


Once in a Lifetime

by GinnyK, westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-02
Updated: 2005-02-02
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15111689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyK/pseuds/GinnyK, https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush





	1. Once in a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


Claudia sighed and pushed her plate of food away. "Why do I have to baby-sit?" she whined. 

"Because you're the oldest, and we trust you with the guest's kids, okay?" Her mother replied, throwing another batch of bacon on the grill. "You'll only have your brothers, and two others." 

"ONLY?!" Claudia cried. "Oh, yeah, thanks." 

"Claudia Jean, I don't have to tell you that the winery isn't doing well financially, and your father needs to do this to keep us in business." 

"I wouldn't have such a problem with it if you would keep your promise and pay me when the adventure is over," Claudia muttered, taking a drink of her juice. "I'm going outside." 

"They arrive this afternoon." 

"And unless you pay me, FORGET IT," Claudia said, pushing away from the table. 

Lilian Cregg watched as Claudia got up from the table and literally looked down at her as she walked away. At nearly 6 feet tall she was a good half a foot taller than her mother. 

"I'll be on the porch, if you find any more jobs for me to do" said Claudia sarcastically as she yanked the screen door opened and stormed outside. 

Lilian stood in the doorway and watched as her daughter settled down on the porch swing, her long legs pushing her with much more force than needed to get the swing going. She sighed to herself and wished that things could be easier on Claudia. The vineyard was in trouble and the family had decided to open up some of the rooms to guests. As a result of the financial situation some of the staff had been let go and Lilian had been forced to take on a large amount of work. And in turn Claudia had gotten more jobs around the vineyard, including babysitting. 

At 15 years old, working with her family wasn't exactly high on Claudia Jean Cregg's list of exciting ways to spend her summer. 

Her parents had already told her she couldn't go to the lake with her best friend, because she had to help harvest the grapes. 

It just wasn't fair. 

She was the one everyone fell back on when they needed to take a break, and she was sick of it. "I'm going to the garage," she yelled at her mother through the screen door. 

She went out to the garage, where she was studying the anatomy of phones in her spare time -- not to mention getting knowledge out of destroying things they didn't need anymore, anyway. 

She grabbed a screwdriver from the workbench and started to take apart the receiver from the old kitchen phone. Within minutes she heard the unmistakable sound of four little feet approaching the garage. Her brothers Ben and Peter had the uncanny ability to find her when she didn't want to be found. Ben was 8 years old, tall and thin like his sister but with his father's blond hair. Peter was almost 5 and a redhead like his mom and sister. 

"Whatcha doing, Claudie?" asked Peter as he climbed up onto the stool next to his sister. 

"Nothin" muttered Claudia as she pushed back a strand of reddish hair that had escaped her braids. 

"Why're ya doin' that to the phone?" 

"Because I feel like it." 

"Oh. You're mad again," he pointed out. 

"Yeah." 

"Did I do it?" 

"Nope." 

"Okay." 

"Guess you're stuck babysitting again today?" asked Ben as he pulled his bike out and sat on it. 

"Yep, and the two of you had better behave. I have two more kids too" 

"Why do people have to come stay with us" muttered Ben. 

"Cause we need the money" sighed Claudia. 

"Claudie, are we going to have to go live in the poor house" asked Peter with his 4-year-old innocence. 

"Peter, where did hear that?" 

"On TV" 

"No we are not going to live in the poor house," said Claudia as she hopped off the stool and held out her hand to Peter. "Let's get your bike out and take off the training wheels. We have a couple of hours until the guests get here. We might as well have fun while we can" 

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "They may have GIRLS with them." 

Ben made a face, and scowled. "Claudie, will they have girls?" 

"I dunno -- how come you don't mind me being a girl?" she asked as they left the garage. 

"'Cuz you're just Claudie, you're not a girl." 

Claudia laughed at the logic. 

She spent the next hour and a half helping Peter learn to ride a two-wheeler on the grass in front of the house. He was doing pretty well when he mother stepped out on the porch and called for them to come in and get ready for the guests. 

Claudia reluctantly dragged herself into the house, changed her clothes, redid her braids and spent a long time looking in the mirror. She wasn't exactly happy with the reflection she saw. She saw a tall, awkward girl with reddish braids, braces and glasses. She sighed as she heard her mother call her to come help in the kitchen. 

Claudia went downstairs to help make the fresh lemonade and muffins that were their hallmark greetings treats for their guests. "I hate this," she muttered, shoving the muffin tin in the oven and slamming the door. 

Her mother was already out on the front porch, waiting, but she heard the crash and came back inside. "Claudia, what on..." 

"The door stuck and slammed," Claudia said, voice tinged with pure innocence. 

Peter and Ben snickered in the dining room. 

Lilian just sighed and turned to go back to the front porch. 

Claudia sat at the kitchen counter watching the timer count down the minutes until she could take the muffins out of the oven. Just as she was pulling them out of the oven she heard a car pull up. She put the muffins in the basket, covered them with a clean white cloth and put them on the table. 

Peeking out the window over the sink she saw the latest group of guests pile out of a yellow station wagon. Two couples and two kids, both girls. One looked about 2 and the other about 7 or 8. The adults looked normal enough, in her opinion, at least. She watched as they unloaded their luggage and set it on the front porch. Smoothing down her hair, she opened the front door with a plastered on smile and let her father introduce her. 

"Claudia, these are our guests, Mr. and Mrs. McGarry and their daughter Mallory," said Thomas Cregg as he pointed to the couple with the younger girl. "And Mr. and Mrs. Bartlet and their daughter Elizabeth". 

"Pleased to meet you" said Claudia in the most polite voice she could manage. 

"So you'll be baby-sitting?" Mrs. McGarry asked with an artificially kind voice that made Claudia wince. 

"Yes, ma'am," she responded as politely as she could. 

"Good," Mr. McGarry commented, nudging Jenny. "Let me take you to the side and give you Mally's special instructions now, so you can get used to them before Jenny gets angry because you've forgotten some obscure thing." He glared at his wife. 

"Sounds like you had a rough ride," Lilian commented. "Why don't you all come inside and have some warm muffins and cold lemonade? Boys, will you please go inside and get some glasses out of the cabinet for the girls?" 

"Yes, mom." answered the boys as they held open the door for their guests. Mr. McGarry and Claudia stayed on the porch. He motioned for Claudia to sit down. 

"I'm sorry about my wife. It was a long trip" 

"That's ok, sir, I understand." 

"Please, don't call me sir" he smiled. "Leo is fine. I'm sorry, what was your name again?" 

"Claudia" 

"That's a nice name" 

"Not really" she said with a sigh. 

"I like it." 

"So one of us does," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, you said your daughter has 'special instructions'? What's that supposed to mean?" 

"She's allergic to cow's milk, and a couple other things, but just mainly, I think I wanted to save you from Jenny's wrath." He laughed a little too loud for Claudia's taste, and she edged away a little. 

"Okay," she said, looking at him a little suspiciously. "Want me to go inside and get you something to drink?" she asked. 

"No thanks, I'll go inside in a few minutes. Here's the list of instructions for Mally" he said as he pulled a piece of yellow paper out of his shirt pocket. 

Claudia took it, read it quickly and put it in the pocket of her shorts. She stood up and opened the front door. Leo followed her and she had to hold back a giggle when she realized she towered over him by at least 5 inches. In fact, she noticed that she towered over all of the guests by at least that amount. 

"Must be visiting from munchkin land," she muttered to herself as she walked into the house. 

When she got to the kitchen Mr. and Mrs. Bartlet were at the table with her parents, her brothers and Elizabeth were on the stools at the counter and Mally was in her mother's lap. Mr. Bartlet was going on and on about some obscure facts about grapes and winemaking. 

"Looks like a long week" she mumbled under her breath. 

"What was that dear?" asked Lilian. 

"Nothing, Mom, just talking to myself" 

Lilian raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes in warning. "Claudia, dear, will you go get a bottle of merlot out of the cellar and put it in the fridge?" she asked with a smile. 

Claudia inhaled sharply and nodded. There were times you didn't cross her mother, and this was one of them. 

She made her way down to the cellar and grabbed the bottle of wine. As she was turning to go back up she heard a set of heavy footsteps on the stairs. She heard Leo's voice calling to her. 

"Over here Mr. Mc..sorry, Leo" she yelled. 

"Your mom said it was ok to come down and take a look around. Hey, this is great" 

"I guess, if you like dark dusty spaces," said Claudia with a shrug of her shoulders. 

He chuckled. "You don't like it much, I take it?" 

"I've grown up here. I used to play hide and seek down here with my friends. No big deal." She smirked. "There's a ghost, though." 

"Ooh, scary." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please, whatever." She pushed past him with the bottle of wine in her hands and headed for the stairs. 

Claudia deposited the wine in the fridge and was closing the door as a pair of little arms wound their way around her legs. She looked down to find Mallory looking up at her with a big grin. As much as Claudia hated being the designated babysitter she did love little kids. She bent down and picked up Mally. 

"You wanna go play outside?" 

Mallory nodded her head with a great deal of enthusiasm. 

"Mom, I'm taking the kids outside. Come on guys, bring Elizabeth with you." she called over her shoulder. 

"I don't want to go outside," Elizabeth said with as much dignity as she could muster, considering she had just dumped lemonade accidentally down her front. 

"Okay... Mom?" Claudia asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Elizabeth, would you like to help me make dinner while your parents look around?" Lilian asked. 

"No, I want to stay with Daddy," Elizabeth insisted. 

"That's fine." said Lilian as she motioned for Claudia to go outside with the kids. 

Thomas took the guests on a quick tour of the vineyard and the house while Lilian started dinner. 

Claudia had taken the kids outside and let them play on the tire swing in the backyard. She was distractedly pushing Mally and daydreaming about having a normal family and a normal life when she saw her father and the guests round the corner of the house and walk towards her. 

"No, she's not real thrilled about helping out, but she's 15, she's not thrilled about anything that involves her family" she heard he father tell them. 

With a roll of her eyes and a sigh she turned towards them just as the swing came back towards her. Ben screamed but not in time. The swing hit her in the shoulder with enough force to knock her down and knock the wind out of her. 

She hit her head on the ground, and lay there, dazed. Mallory got off of the swing and came down to kiss her on the cheek, even though she wasn't really responsive. 

"Claudia, open your eyes," Mrs. Bartlet ordered. "Come on, honey, open your eyes..." 

Claudia opened her eyes slowly and said, "I'm just gonna... lie here... for a minute..." 

That brought a chorus of laughs from the group. 

"That's a good idea, sweetie" said her father as he straightened out her glasses. 

After a minute Leo and her dad helped her stand up and walked her to the front porch and settled her in the wicker rocker. Her mother went in to get her a drink. Mrs. Barlet hovered around her for a minute before sitting down next to her. 

"I'm okay," Claudia insisted. She grunted when Mallory came running up and plopped down into her lap. 

"Cauda?" she said. 

Claudia looked confused. "Huh?" 

"I think she's trying to say Claudia," Thomas said. 

"Oh. What, Mallory?" 

"Sowwy." 

"It's okay, kidlet." Claudia smiled. 

"Cauda?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Your name's hard." 

"Yeah." 

Leo had watched this exchange from where he was sitting on the porch railing. 

"She has a little trouble with her R's and her L's." he explained. 

"Oh" said Claudia as she began to rock Mallory in her lap. 

"So what's your middle name?" asked Leo with a smile. 

"Jean, but please don't tell me you like that too" she smirked. 

"OK, I won't" 

She rolled her eyes. "Well, y'know, I don't like it, so..." 

"CJ." 

"Huh?" 

"She can say that, can't you, Mally?" 

"Say wha?" Mallory asked sleepily. 

"CJ." 

"CJ," she repeated. She looked up at Claudia. "You're CJ, 'kay?" 

"Okay," Claudia said with a smile. 

By dinnertime her brothers had also taken to calling her CJ and that was fine with her. She helped her mother get the meal on the table and then took a seat between Mallory and Peter. Usually she detested eating with the guests but these people were different from most of the others. Most of their other guests were rich, stuck up people looking forward to being waited on hand and foot. But these people struck her as something else entirely. 

Especially when Jed and Leo helped serve the food, allowing her to sit down and relax for a minute before Mallory chucked a muffin her way to show appreciation. 

CJ sighed and stripped butter out of her hair. She couldn't quite get it out of her braids, so she undid the ends and let it fall so she could get the rest out. 

"You have beautiful hair," Abbey commented with a smile. 

"Thanks" she said shyly. "I usually just braid it, it's easier to keep out of my face that way" 

"Yeah especially when she's in the garage taking things apart" added Ben. 

"Benjamin" whined CJ. 

"So what do you take apart in the garage?" asked Jed. 

"Phones, radios, stuff like that." 

"Ever get the stuff back together?" 

"Sure" 

"That's better than you do," said Abbey, teasing her husband. 

"Daddy's a little klutzy," explained Liz. 

"Hey" cried Jed. 

Claudia chuckled. "Hey, it's okay," she said with a shy smile. "I'm pretty klutzy, too." 

"She falls into things," Peter added. CJ smacked him upside the head so his face wound up in the soup bowl. "HEY!" he yelled. 

"Claudia Jean, please stop doing that," Lilian sighed, cringing. 

"As soon as he stops selling me out as a klutz, I will," CJ snapped. "I can take care of that well enough, myself, thank you!" 

"Claudia, please go to your room until you can be civil," Thomas said in his sternest fatherly tone. 

CJ stood up, turned to her guests and spoke quietly before leaving the room. "I'm sorry." 

The rest of the meal was spent in relative silence. When she heard the sounds of everyone leaving the table CJ crept down the back stairs and went into the kitchen. Her mother was bringing the dirty dishes in from the dining room. CJ silently went to work at the sink. While she worked she dreamed of a life away from the vineyard, somewhere where she could live out her life long dreams. But being only 15 she didn't really have any life long dreams, yet. 

A little hand tugged on her shorts. "CJ?" Mallory said. 

"Yeah, kiddo?" Claudia said, turning around. 

"Read me story?" 

CJ smiled. "When I get done with the dishes, okay?" 

"The Three Bears?" 

"Sure!" 

Ten minutes later Mallory was on the front porch swing in her pajamas and wrapped up in an old quilt. CJ was next to her reading The Three Bears. 

CJ looked up as she saw Leo come out the front door with a glass of wine in his hand. He sat down on the steps and looked out over the vineyard. CJ went back to reading the story until Mallory fell asleep. 

"You like the wine?" CJ asked Leo, twirling her hair back into a bun so she could carry Mallory back inside and not have it get in the way. 

"Yeah, it's very good." 

"Good." She picked Mallory up and headed for the door. 

"I think Jenny's in our room" yelled Leo over his shoulder. 

CJ deposited Mallory into Jenny's arms and went back downstairs. As she passed through the kitchen she noticed Leo had left the bottle of wine out on the table. She grabbed it and went back out to the porch. 

"Here, thought you might want some more" she said shyly. 

"Thanks. So you *off duty* now?" he asked as he poured himself another glass of wine. 

"Yeah. Mom is tucking the boys into bed" 

He nodded. "Sit down?" he requested. "So... you take apart phones and stuff?" 

"When I get mad, yeah." She shrugged, frowning. "It seems more constructive than clocking somebody." 

"Yeah," he agreed. "I used to clock 'em." 

She laughed. "No wonder your hands are all gnarly." 

"Maybe," he agreed with a smile. "Your dad said you don't like helping out around here?" 

"Yeah." 

"Why?" 

"Because they use me and use me, and they never say thank you or anything." Her frowned deepened and she crossed her arms over her knees. 

"So you don't really mind the work, you just want to be shown a little appreciation once in a while" 

"Yeah" she muttered. 

"That's understandable. So I guess running the winery isn't exactly your life long dream?" he asked with a smile. 

She shook her head. "Don't really have a dream." She sighed. "I'm sure I'll get tapped to do it though, eventually." 

"Maybe, maybe not." He smiled. "What do you want to do?" 

She shrugged. "I dunno." 

"Come on, there must be something you're interested in. I mean, besides boys," he teased. 

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. 

"Yeah, I suppose. I like to write, I worked on the school paper last year." 

He nodded. "Writing is good. You good with people?" 

"When they aren't my brothers, yeah." 

"There's a lot you could do with that." 

She shrugged. "Like I said, I'll probably just wind up running the vineyard." 

"Pessimist." 

"You'd better believe it." 

Leo poured the last of the wine into his cup and took a large swallow. 

"So what do you do?" 

"I'm a lawyer" 

"Oh. What about Mr. Barlet?" 

"Jed, he's running for Congress in the fall" 

"Cool, what state" 

"New Hampshire. I've been helping him with the campaign. We all needed a few days vacation, so that's how we ended up here." 

She nodded. "Cool." She sighed. "I think it'd be fun to work in politics. Hard work, but, y'know, it would help people. But it's an all-guys thing, so I don't think I'd ever fit in." She laughed. "Probably ought to stick with dismantling phones, eh?" 

"Not necessarily. I'm sure you'll be good at whatever you decide," he said with a smile. 

"Claudia, it's getting late, come on inside" yelled Lilian from the kitchen. 

"Coming mom" she yelled back. "Goodnight Leo. I'll see you in the morning" 

"Sweet dreams," said Leo with a wink and a smile. 

She didn't know why she felt uneasy in his presence, but decided it might be best to just ignore that feeling. She went inside and upstairs to get changed. 

She ran into Abbey outside of the guestrooms. "Hey, CJ," she said with a smile. "How's your head?" 

"It's still on, I think," Claudia joked. 

"That's good. You might want to take some aspirin before you go to bed. You'll probably wake up with a headache" 

"Great. Just what I need. Thanks for the advice" she said as she headed for the bathroom. 

"See you in the morning" said Abbey as she went into her room. 

CJ awoke to the sun streaming in the window. Much to her dismay she did have a rather large headache. 

"Claudia!" Lilian cried, flinging open the door. "Get up, get up!" 

CJ moaned and buried her head under the pillow. 

"She's sick," came Mallory's little voice as she walked up and put her cold hand on the back of CJ's neck. "She's got a fevew." 

Lilian moved to put her hand on CJ's forehead. She was indeed running a fever. 

"Mally, why don't you go downstairs, I think the boys are watching cartoons." said Lilian sweetly. 

"OK. I be back watah" 

"Watah?" asked Lilian. 

"Later," translated CJ. 

"Why don't you just rest for a while? I'll send Ben up with some juice," said Lilian in a voice that was almost tinged with guilt. 

"OK" 

CJ snuggled back under the covers and fell back to sleep immediately. 

She awoke to Mallory's little voice. "CJ? You still sleeping?" 

"No," CJ mumbled, opening her eyes and looking at the alarm clock. "Shouldn't you be taking a nap?" 

"Take a nap with CJ," Mallory insisted. "Pwease?" The hopeful look on her face made CJ feel bad, so she moved over and let Mallory up on the bed with her. 

"Okay. You lie still and go to sleep," CJ whispered, closing her eyes again. 

The next time she woke up, she heard Leo and Jenny calling frantically for Mallory, and CJ just realized that Mallory had closed the door behind her when she'd come in. 

"She's in here!" she shouted. Mallory didn't wake up, just kind of rolled over and mumbled in her sleep. 

Jenny came into the room, gave CJ a look and picked up Mallory. Leo stood there looking a little guilty. He followed Jenny out of the room but returned a minute later. He knocked softly. 

"It's open," said CJ not even opening her eyes. 

Leo poked his head in. "Sorry about that. You feeling better?" 

"A little and don't worry, you don't have to apologize" 

"Okay," he said, a little doubtfully. "Did she take a nap?" 

"Well, she was still sleeping when Jenny yanked her out of here, so yeah." CJ covered her head with the pillow and sighed. 

When she next woke again, Mallory had climbed back into bed with her, and she noticed that the room was shrouded in darkness. Which meant it was night. 

"Mallory, honey, you need to go back to your bed," CJ whispered. 

Mallory didn't respond, because she was sound asleep, sucking her thumb contentedly. 

CJ dragged herself out of bed and down to the kitchen. Leo and Jed were sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating muffins. 

"Hey kiddo. Feeling better?" asked Jed. 

"A little" she said as she sat down at the table. 

"You want some juice or something?" asked Jed as he motioned towards the fridge. 

"Orange juice would be great, thanks" 

Jed stood to get it but Leo pushed him back into his seat. "I'll do it, the juice is in a glass pitcher," he said teasing his best friend. 

"Shut up," Jed muttered, blushing. 

CJ yawned and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them. "Mallory's in my room, sleeping," she mumbled, closing her eyes again. 

"Here," Leo said as he set down a glass of juice. 

CJ didn't respond. It would have taken too much effort to open her eyes and move. 

"Claudia?" Jed said, reaching over to feel her forehead. 

She moaned in response and tried to sit up, but failed. A tired grunt passed her lips and she tried again to open her eyes. 

"I'm gonna get Abbey" she heard Jed say as she opened her eyes. 

"Hey, you ok?" asked Leo as he put a hand on her shoulder. 

"I've been better," she mumbled. 

Lilian, Thomas, Jed and Abbey came into the room a minute later. 

"CJ, sweetie, can you hear me?" asked Abbey as she put her hand on CJ's forehead. 

"Yeah," CJ moaned, opening her eyes again with a lot of effort. "Wanna go back to bed," she mumbled, still not able to move from the position she was in. 

"Okay, honey, can you try to sit up?" Abbey asked gently. 

CJ moved a fraction of an inch, then fell back. "I can't," she sighed. 

"Okay. Can someone carry her upstairs?" 

"Mallory's in her bed," Leo supplied. 

"So we'll take her into Jed's and my room," Abbey said. "I think she's just got a virus, but she needs to be looked at closer than she has been today. Someone needs to keep an eye on her." 

CJ blinked and moaned. 

"CJ?" came Mallory's voice at the top of the stairs. 

"CJ's sleeping sweetie. Come down and Daddy will hold you for a minute" Leo yelled up the stairs. 

Mallory came down, followed quickly by Ben and Peter. Jed and Thomas helped CJ to the couch in Abbey and Jed's room. Abbey got out her black bag and checked CJ over. 

CJ looked up at Abbey and croaked, "Will I live?" 

Abbey smiled. "If you're making bad jokes, you're a shoo-in," she teased. "You should be fine in a couple of days, you just need your rest." 

"Can't get much of that 'round here," Claudia mumbled, closing her eyes. 

"CJ's sick, Daddy?" Mallory asked quietly from the doorway. 

"Yeah, sweetie, CJ's sick." 

"Did I make her sick?" 

"No, honey -- why would you have made her sick?" 

"I had a wunny nose." 

"No, baby doll, you didn't make her sick," Leo assured Mallory. "Let's go to bed, okay? Let's let CJ get her sleep so she can get better." 

Abbey smiled at CJ. "You seem to have had quite an effect on her." 

"Guess so," CJ mumbled, beginning to nod off. 

By the next morning CJ was feeling better. She half expected her mother to come barging into the Bartlet's room to wake her up so she could help get breakfast on the table. But surprisingly enough that didn't happened. Lilian checked on her about 7:30 and told her not to worry, she would get things ready for breakfast. 

CJ managed to drag herself out of bed a little after 10 and take a shower. She dressed quickly and was in the process of braiding her hair when she remembered what Abbey had said about it and decided to leave it down for the day. 

Passing through the kitchen she grabbed a muffin and a glass of juice to take outside to the porch with her. Curling up on the swing she relaxed to the sounds of the kids playing in the back yard. It sounded like they were all having a good time, even Elizabeth. 

Down the dirt road that went past the house to the vineyard she saw her father and Jed walking along. Jed seemed to be doing all the talking; her father was just nodding every once in a while. Over in the garden she could see her mother and Abbey picking vegetables. CJ figured Jenny was in the back with Mallory, making sure she didn't have too much fun or anything like that. 

Leo was nowhere to be seen. 

CJ couldn't quite figure out whether that fact was comforting or not. There was just something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. He seemed nice enough. Not many men his age would take the time to actually sit and talk to a 15-year-old girl. She enjoyed talking to him something about him made her vaguely uncomfortable. But she wasn't sure what that was, exactly. 

He almost scared her to death when he came up behind her and said, "Feeling better?" She just about hit the porch roof. 

"Please, don't do that," she said, edging away a little. "You slept late," she pointed out dryly. 

"Too much excitement last night -- probably too much good wine, too," Leo said with a smile. "You feeling better?" 

"Yeah." 


	2. Once in a Lifetime 2

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 2 

Leo came up on the porch and took a seat in the rocker. 

"Did you get breakfast? I can make you something." said CJ trying to sound polite. 

"I'm not hungry. But coffee would be great. Don't get up, I'll get it" he said as he went back in the house. 

When he came back and sat down again she took a good look at him. She could see his hands shaking slightly as he sipped the coffee. For someone who slept late he sure didn't look like it, she thought to herself. 

"I've been meaning to ask this, but didn't know how to ask without sounding rude..." she began. 

"Ask away," Leo muttered, sipping his coffee and watching the kids play on the swing. 

"Why here? Why didn't you go on vacation someplace better?" 

"It was Jed's idea, actually. I think he's always been interested in wine" 

"But why here, why not one of the bigger and frankly, nicer, vineyards" 

"Well the trip was kind of spur-of-the-moment and..." 

"And all the good places were full" she said with a smirk. 

"Something like that" 

She smiled ruefully. "Yeah, well, we're a pretty sucky little place at the moment, so forgive my asking why." 

"Not so sucky. You guys have a nice little outfit." 

She shrugged. "We need money to keep going, or we'll have to sell the fields. I know I'm not supposed to tell people that, but at the moment, I don't care." 

"Don't worry, I won't tell" he smiled as he finished his coffee. 

"So any big plans today? A tour of the hot boring fields, some grape stomping perhaps or maybe a ride into town...don't blink or you'll miss it." said CJ with a healthy dose of sarcasm. 

"Ah, feeling better I see, the sarcasm is back. Somebody once told me 'sarcasm is the grumpy man's wit'. I think she was right" 

"Whatever," muttered CJ. 

He chuckled. "You got a boyfriend?" 

"No." 

"Why not?" 

"Because I'm tall, smart, and I scare the crap out of people, not to mention I work all the time," she said, sighing. "I'm going out to the garage, if anyone needs me." 

She got up and headed off to put together the old box phone again. 

Leo watched her go with a smile on his face. He headed over to the large building that housed the actual winery in hopes of getting a few samples. 

CJ spent the next hour or so unnoticed in the cool garage. She was almost done with the phone when Mallory wandered in. 

"CJ" 

"Hey, kid" she said as she picked up Mally and put her on the workbench. "All done swinging?" 

"Yep. Mawwy want a dwink" 

"Sure, let's go up to the house and get some lemonade." 

CJ put Mallory up on her shoulders and trudged back up to the house. 

Jenny came out onto the porch. "Hello, Claudia," she greeted. "Have you seen my husband?" 

"He was out here earlier," CJ replied, brushing past on her way inside with Mallory. 

"Mommy and Daddy mad," Mallory mumbled around a mouthful of juice glass a few minutes later. 

"Yeah, I could kind of tell," CJ said with a smile. 

Mallory nodded and went back to guzzling her lemonade. 

CJ looked out to see Leo coming out of the winery, actually, stumbling out of the winery. She had seen Jenny head in the opposite direction, towards the grape fields, when she had stormed out of the house. Quickly CJ went to the front door and silently waved him over. 

"What's the matter" he asked, slurring his words slightly. 

CJ just shook her head as she realized exactly was it was about Leo that creeped her out. But still, she kind of felt sorry for him. 

"Your wife is looking for you. And she's not exactly happy at the moment." 

"Oh" he muttered as he stumbled up the steps. 

"Here, come inside and lie down a minute, okay?" CJ said, leading him to the couch. "I'll take Mallory and go get Jenny." 

He grunted. "Please, don't bother." 

"I bet this stop was your idea," she muttered. 

"Excuse me?!" 

"You heard me." 

"Yeah, I did. And actually this was Jed's idea." 

"But you didn't exactly veto it, did you?" 

"No" he said quietly. 

CJ got him settled down on the couch in the den. She was even nice enough to get him a few aspirin and a glass of water. 

"If you're gonna puke, the bathroom's over there" she said pointing towards the closed door. 

"You're too kind," he muttered. 

"Yeah, whatever." She took Mallory by the hand and went outside, sure to slam the door behind her. 

She headed directly for Jed. "Mr. Bartlet?" 

"Yeah? How're you feeling?" 

"Better. Leo's in the house -- I think he's drunk. I'm going to take Mallory and find Mrs. McGarry." 

"Okay," Jed said. 

An hour later, CJ and Mallory still hadn't found Jenny, and the storm that had been brewing all day finally broke over them in the fields. CJ looked back at the house, and then down at Mallory. The little girl was already exhausted, and CJ didn't know if she could carry her back to the house through the muddy ruts. It was over half a mile back. 

With a sigh, she scooped Mallory up and headed for the tool shed a few hundred feet away. 

THey got there just as the lightning started streaking across the sky. CJ had just gotten Mallory settled down when the door swung open and Jenny jumped inside. 

"Great, just what I need" muttered CJ. 

Jenny spun around at the sound. "Claudia? Mallory? What are you doing out here?" 

"We're in here, actually," CJ said. "We were looking for you to tell you that Leo was back in the house. But we couldn't find you, and it started raining, and I couldn't carry Mallory back to the house, so we came in here." 

"Oh. So what kind of trouble has my darling husband gotten himself into this time. Let me guess, a little too much sampling at the winery" 

CJ exhaled sharply. "That would be my guess" 

"So is he passed out somewhere?" 

"I left him on the couch in the den." 

"Look, I'm sorry you had to deal with him" Jenny said sincerely. 

"It's no big deal" replied CJ. 

Mallory climbed into her mother's lap while the three of them watched the storm through the window in silence. CJ realized that maybe her first impressed of Jenny McGarry had been wrong. Maybe she wasn't as cold hearted and mean as she first thought. Maybe she was just tired of dealing with Leo and his drinking, which was quickly becoming a pretty obvious problem. 

"Hey, Mallory," CJ said after a few minutes. "I think I left some toys in here the last time I was stuck out here with another little girl like you," she said comfortingly, noticing the way Mallory jumped at the thunder. "Want to help me find them?" 

Mallory nodded vigorously and jumped up. Jenny gave CJ a weary smile of gratitude. CJ and Mallory found a deck of cards, a ball and a toy truck. 

CJ settled Mallory back down on the floor and tried to teach her to play "GO FISH". That didn't go too well as Mallory still got her numbers mixed up. So then they sat and rolled the ball back and forth until the storm let up and they heard Thomas' voice through the wind. 

"Stay here," CJ said, getting up and opening the door. "DAD! We're in here!" 

"You're okay?" Thomas shouted, running up with Jed Bartlet on his heels. 

"Yeah, we're fine. Mallory's a little spooked by the thunder, and Jenny's a little tired, but we're okay." She grunted, then said, "Dad, okay, like, you're squishing me. Let go!" 

"SOrry" said Thomas as he let his daughter go. 

Jed picked up Mallory and helped Jenny to her feet. The group made their way slowly back to the house through the mud. Lilian met them on the porch with dry towels and hot tea and coffee. 

Jenny took Mallory to their room to try and get her to rest for a while. CJ's parents went back to work. Jed and Abbey sat on the swing and drank their coffee. Elizabeth and the boys ran around in the wet grass out front. That left CJ alone and Leo unaccounted for. 

Somehow, she had a sinking feeling she knew where he was. And she felt pretty bad about going downstairs to get the bottle of wine for dinner. 

But she did it anyway. 

"Leo? Mr. McGarry, are you down here?" she called, waving the flashlight around. "Mr. McGarry?!" 

"Oh for... quit shining that in my eyes!" 

"Sorry," she muttered, directing the beam to the ground. "What are you doing down here?" 

"Thinkin" 

"Oh really" she said as she pulled the chain to turn on the light. Leo winced and turned his head up to face her. He was sitting with an unopened bottle of wine in his lap. There didn't seem to be any empty ones nearby so CJ took that as a good sign. "And you think better with a bottle in your lap?" she asked, eyebrows raised. 

"Touche." 

"Please put that back," she requested quietly. "I know you may just see this as a place to vacation and get smashed off your butt, but this is my home, and our family's business." When he made no move to put the bottle away, she moved to take it out of his lap and put it back on the shelf. "How can you do this to Mallory?" she asked. 

"I don't know. Jenny asks me that every day. She's not that bad you know. Jenny, I mean." 

"I kind of figured that out this afternoon" 

"I don't know why she stays with me" 

"Probably because of Mallory. She's a great kid. Better watch out or you're going to lose them both" she said as she glared at him. 

Leo just nodded. 

"Why don't you go pull yourself together for dinner" said CJ as she motioned towards the stairs. 

"Yeah. Good idea" replied Leo. 

CJ sighed and held out her hand to pull him to his feet. "You might want to pull the cobwebs out of your hair before coming to the table" she teased as he followed her up the stairs. 

"Ha ha, very funny." 

"Actually, it is," she said with a grin. "And yes, I am feeling much better today, thanks." 

"Sorry I didn't inquire about your health earlier in the day, Claudia Jean" he smirked. 

"Whatever" she said, returning the smirk. 

Dinner was more enjoyable than the previous night had been. Nobody was asked to leave the table, Leo only had one glass of wine and no muffins were thrown. 

Though CJ and her brothers had a discreet kicking match beneath the table, and at one point CJ accidently kicked Leo in the shin. 

He covered for her, by explaining he'd jumped because he'd bit the inside of his cheek, and winked at her. 

She could feel herself blush but quickly turned her attention back to the trivia facts about the history of the yam that Jed was sharing with the table. CJ pushed the yams around on her plate. 

"So, does anyone know that latin word for yam?" asked Jed. 

Abbey let out a huge sigh and kicked her husband under the table. 

"Dioscorea," CJ muttered under her breath. 

Jed looked surprised. "Where did you learn that?" 

She shrugged. "Must have read it somewhere, I guess." 

"Pretty impressive" said Leo with a smile. 

"Thanks" she muttered without looking him in the eye. 

"May I be excused, please?" she asked a moment later. 

"You haven't hardly eaten anything, CLaudia," her mother said. 

"I'm not really hungry. I want to go work on the old box phone in the garage. Please may I be excused?" 

"Okay, but you have to do dishes," Thomas agreed. 

"Call me when you're done and I'll do them. Is that ok?" 

"Yes" replied her mother. 

CJ left the house and wandered through the yard trying to make sense of what she was feeling. 

She wound up on the swing, just kind of sitting there. 

"Hi, CLaudia!" said Louis Bradley as he came up. He was one of the investor's sons, and he drove a Porsche that she was forever bugging him to let her drive. 

"Hey," she said glumly. 

"What's wrong?" he asked. 

"Nothing." She tried to brighten up and smile. "How's your dad?" 

"He's good... I'm here to see your dad about a job." 

"A job? YOU?!" 

"Yeah." 

"Oh." She nodded in the direction of the house. "He's having dinner with some guests." 

She took Louis inside; by that time dinner was over and she had to wash the dishes. Louis and her father went into the office and the rest of the group scattered quickly, leaving her to a sink full of dishes and her own jumbled thoughts. 

Leo came in a while later while she was scrubbing the potato pot. "Need some help?" he asked. 

"No, I'm fine," she grunted, pouring on the elbow grease. 

"Well, I'll dry, then." 

She stopped and stared at him. "What's the catch?" 

"No catch." 

"Why?" 

"Because you helped me today." 

"I did?" 

"Yeah, you helped me realize a few things without making me feel like a complete jerk. Yes, I have a problem and I know that. But..I can't control it. And that's the part Jenny doesn't understand. She thinks I should just be able to stop. I've tried and it didn't work." 

"Why don't you get some help?" 

"Well, it's kind of complicated" 

"OK, I'm not going anywhere for a while" she said as she swept a hand over the large pile of dishes yet to be washed."so start talking" she teased. 

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay." 

"Okay, have it your way," she said, launching back into the potato pan. "But you'll have to talk to somebody about it sometime, you know." 

"Probably." 

"No, you will..." 

"Claudia?" 

She looked over her shoulder. "Hi, Louis." 

"I was wondering, if, well..." Louis shot Leo a pointed look, and Leo excused himself. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner and a movie tomorrow." 

CJ just stared at him for a moment. She had had the biggest crush on Louis since she was 13 and he was 16. 

"Uh, sure" she managed to choke out. "I have to check with my mom first" 

"Well, give me a call in the morning, okay? I'm gonna go home now and feed the fish or something." 

She waited until she was sure he was gone before letting out a shriek and flinging her hands up in the air, getting dirty soap bubbles all over the kitchen. 

Leo stood in the doorway to the dining room grinning. 

"I take it you accepted his invitation?" he teased. 

"Yes" she said blushing. 

"Good, you deserve to get out and have some fun" he said, coming back into the room and picking up the dish towel again. 

She grinned. "Maybe he'll let me drive his Porsche," she said to herself, dodging Leo's odd look in her direction. 

She didn't want to think about Leo and his problems anymore -- she had a date! 

~~~~ 

"Hey, I don't have a pumpkin, but we can make do with what you've got here," Abbey said soothingly, sitting down on the bed. "What about this skirt? And this blouse?" 

"Those are church clothes!" 

"Okay..." 

"I can't find my silver pants..." CJ whined, flopping onto the bed in frustration. "I was gonna wear them and the paisley top there, and that leather vest." 

"Colorful," Abbey commented dryly. 

"OK, how about the shirt, jeans and no vest" asked CJ as she grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor. 

"Better. What are you going to do with your hair?" 

"Well, no braids, that's for sure" smiled CJ. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

At about seven-thirty the next night, the phone in the house rang, and Thomas immediately knew something had happened. After a very terse conversation with the party on the other end of the line, he grabbed his jacket and left. 

When he came back, he had a still-dripping Claudia in the front seat, and he was yelling, "HOW COULD YOU BACK A PORSCHE INTO A POND?!" 

CJ didn't really have a good answer to that question so she just shrugged her shoulders and got out of the car. The kids were all outside in the yard when Thomas pulled up so naturally they all came running. 

"CJ all wet" said Mallory as she wrapped her arms around CJ's legs. 

"Not now sweetie" she said as she walked into the house. 

"Get into some dry clothes and meet me in my office" called Thomas. 

Leo had been in his room making some campaign related phone calls when Thomas had received the call. So when CJ passed by the open door dripping wet he was a little surprised. He tried not to laugh but wasn't having much luck. 

"Get caught in a rainstorm CJ?" he asked with a grin. 

"Not exactly" she muttered as she went into her room, slamming the door behind her. 

Lilian walked up to her husband. "Why is she wet?" 

"She went out with Louis." 

"Yeah, I know." 

"He let her drive his Porsche." 

"Yeah..." 

"She backed it into the pond." 

"Oh God." 

"Yeah -- yet another bill I can't afford to pay," he sighed. "When she comes down, I'm in my office." 

CJ stalled for a few minutes after getting into a dry set of clothes. With a sigh she left her room and starting on the walk to her father's office. As she passed by Leo's door he looked up and gave her a wink and a smile. 

She sighed and shook her head before going down the stairs and disappearing into her father's office. 

Two hours later, she was going back up the stairs, and into her room. She slammed the door shut and flung herself across the bed, finally letting herself cry. 

As expected she was punished for the forseeable future, had to babysit for free and was now expected to hand over all the money she made from her outside babysitting jobs. 

By 11 she was done crying and feeling sorry for herself. She stuck her head out into the hallway. Everything was quiet and she correctly assumed that her parents and brothers were already asleep. As she crept past the guest rooms they seemed dark and quiet too. She continued down the back stairs into the kitchen for something to eat. As she drove the car into the pond at the beginning of the date she hadn't had any dinner yet and she was starving. 

"So, what happened?" Leo asked quietly, making her jump. 

"Would you please stop doing that?" she asked before beginning to cry angrily. "I've had a pretty crappy night and I just want something to eat before I enter a life of indentured servitude. Hey, there's a thought -- I could be a fucking nun." 

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "WHat?!" 

"They live in indentured servitude, no sex, no having to pay for Porsches they wrecked, and no money." She shut the door to the fridge with more force than was really necessary and began picking at some roast beef. 

Leo took her by the elbow and led her to a stool at the counter. She sat down and he took a seat opposite her. 

"Now, I've spent the better part of the night on the phone with people in New Hampshire so my knowledge of the night's events are a little sketchy. Care to elaborate?" he smiled. 

"Don't you have something better to do than sit her and listen to me?" 

"Nope." 

"Fine." She sighed and shovelled another chunk of meat into her mouth, then chewed for a long time. "I went on a date with a guy that I really like, only he hates my guts now, because he let me drive his Porsche, he put it into gear -- didn't tell me which gear -- and I accidently backed it into a pond." She turned bright red and took another bite. "I'm a good driver," she said defensively. "But I didn't know it was in reverse. It's a different stick than I'm used to, and..." 

"And you backed into a pond?" Leo supplied with a teasing smile. 

"Yeah." 

"And you have to pay damages?" 

"Yes." She took another bite and chewed sullenly. "And I'm going to be a laughing-stock at school next fall. I ought to just lock myself in the garage." She put the lid back on the meat and put it back in the fridge, suddenly not so very hungry anymore. 

"You want tea?" she asked as she got herself a mug and put the kettle on the burner. 

"Sure" 

While the water heated CJ got out a box of cookies and tossed them at Leo. 

"So how was dinner here?" 

"Well, without you here to provide us with some entertainment it was pretty quiet. Although Jed did give us some very interesting facts about the National Park System" 

"Gee, sorry I missed that" CJ smirked. "So is Jed always...uh..." 

"A geek? Yeah" laughed Leo. 

She nodded. "I am, too, but I hide it pretty well, most of the time. Like tonight," she muttered, fighting tears again. "It's not fair." 

"What's not fair?" 

"Nothing." 

"You okay?" 

"I drove into a pond. Of course I'm not." 

"Well, besides that, are you okay?" 

"I guess." 

The tea kettle whistled and she started to get up. Leo waved her back down and got the tea himself. They sat and talked for over an hour. About nothing in particular, the campaign, Mallory, Jed, what classes CJ was going to take in the fall. 

She glanced at the clock and sighed. "I'm gonna go to bed and play pity party for a while longer before I go to sleep," she said. 

"Okay," Leo agreed with a little smile. 

She put her arms around him in a hug, and said, "Thanks." She straightened and went to bed quickly before he could say anything. 

~~~~ 

"Leo, CJ's been in an accident," Margaret said, coming into his office. "She's fine, but her car is totalled." 

"Good God, that woman should just give up and take a cab. Where is she?" 

"Josh went to pick her up at the Emergency Room" 

"I thought you said she was fine?" he asked growing concerned. 

"She is, the police just wanted her to be checked out. They should be here in a minute. You want me to send her in when she gets here." 

"That would be nice Margaret" he said a bit harsher than he had intended. 

After Margaret left he sat back down at his desk in his cluttered office. He pushed aside a stack of Bartlet for America flyers and put his feet on the desk. While he waited he made a mental count of all the cars CJ had wrecked over the years. 

Twelve that he knew of, probably more, though. 

CJ knocked on the doorframe and said, "Margaret said you wanted to see me?" 

"What happened to your arm?!" 

She shrugged. "I sprained my wrist and they want it immobile for a while. I'm really okay," she assured him with a smile. 

"So what happened?" 

"Some twit hit me in the bumper with a five ton pickup," she said, wincing as she jarred her hand as she sat down. "So, this time, it wasn't my fault." 

"Whatever you say" smirked Leo. 

CJ leaned back and propped her feet up on the desk too. They sat in comfortable silence for a while. 

"So when you met me as a tall geeky teenager did you ever imagine things would work out this way? That we'd be working together, trying to get Jed elected President" 

"Would it surprise you if I said yes?" asked Leo with a wink. 

"Yeah." She played with the pencil mug on his desk and asked, "How's Mal?" 

"She's doing well. She just got a job teaching fourth grade." 

"Great!" CJ said with a smile. "And Jenny?" 

He shrugged. "I think she's in Borneo." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah." 

"Well, you want to come over to the place Toby and I are sharing? I can make some lemonade and muffins..." 

"Sure" said Leo as a smile came across his face as he remembered the day almost 25 years earlier when he had first shared lemonade and muffins with Claudia Cregg. 

"So what are you thinking about?" asked CJ as they walked out into the cool fall evening. 

"About the first time we had lemonade and muffins." admitted Leo with a smile. 

She laughed. "Yeah, well, those were mom's muffins, not mine." She grinned over at him. "I've learned that chocolate chips make excellent muffins." 

He raised an eyebrow. "A fascination with chocolate, too?" 

"Oh hush." 

"And here I just thought you had obsessions with crashing cars and getting wet." 

"Shut up." She was blushing furiously. 

The fall air had the smell of fireplaces and burning leaves. CJ inhaled deeply and sighed. 

"Don't get this nice smell in California huh?" teased Leo. 

"Nope" she smiled. 

The finished the walk to her place in silence. She struggled to get the key out of her purse with one hand until Leo took the key ring from her and opened the door. 

"Exactly how are you going to make muffins with one hand?" 

"I'm not. You are, I'll supervise" she declared. 

"OK, but you know you are taking you life into your hands, letting me near the kitchen" 

"I'll take my chances" 

"You sure?" 

"Yeah. Someone's gotta keep you entertained while Jenny's off in Borneo," she joked. "There's muffin mix in the cabinet, Leo -- just follow the directions." She fished around in her purse for the bottle of Tylenol3 they had given her in the ER. 

By the time Leo had managed to get the muffins in the oven CJ was fast asleep on the couch. He set the oven timer and sat down in the recliner. He turned the TV to CNN and put his feet up to relax for what felt like the first time in days. 

His cell phone rang, waking CJ up. "Ohhh..." she moaned as she banged her arm trying to roll over. 

"Lie still," Leo insisted, answering the phone. "Leo McGarry -- hey, Jen. Yeah, I'm over at CJ's. Muffins and lemonade... Hold on. CJ, she says thank you for feeding me, even though I'm the one making the food." 

CJ grunted and went back to sleep. 

Leo walked to the kitchen to take the muffins out while still on the phone with Jenny. 

"Oh, she wrecked her car and sprained her wrist, so she couldn't cook... no, she's fine. I just came over to keep her company. She took a painkiller and she's out cold on the couch. So when are you coming home? Oh, I guess if you're enjoying yourself then you should just stay another week...look I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow...yeah, love you too." 

Leo sighed deeply as he turned the phone off. He wasn't paying attention to the hot pan he had just placed on the counter and he brushed his knuckles against it. He managed to bite back the scream so he wouldn't wake CJ again. Grabbing an ice cube out of the freezer he held it against his hand and paced around the kitchen. 

He finally stopped pacing and went back to the living room while letting the muffins cool off. 

Toby came home a little later, and seemed a little surprised to see Leo in his living room. "Hello," he greeted cautiously. "Is CJ out?" 

"Yeah -- muffins are on the counter, and I'm going home for the night." 

"Oh, you don't have to rush out" said Toby as he grabbed a muffin. 

"I'm not, I was on my way out anyway" said Leo as he grabbed his coat. 

He walked back to campaign headquarters quickly thinking about everything in general and nothing in particular. THe light to Jed's office was still on when he got there. He could see Jed was on the phone so he knocked quietly. Jed waved him in and motioned for him to take a seat. 

"Yeah, we'll see that on... okay, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Bob. Kiss Meridith for me." Jed hung up and turned to Leo. "How's... uh... CJ?" 

"She's okay. She's out cold on the couch and I wouldn't count on her for anything substantial for a couple of weeks, but yeah, she's okay." 

"And her car?" 

"A pile of twisted metal rubble." 

"Ouch." 

"Yeah" 

"That's brings the car count up to what now? A dozen?" 

"At least" smiled Leo. 

"I still remember vividly the day we met CJ in Napa. After spending 5 days with her I knew she would go places. There was just something about that tall awkward 15 year old. I'm not sure what it was." 

"I know what you mean" muttered Leo as he leaned forward in his seat and fiddled with a Bartlet For America pin that was on Jed's desk. 

"You ok, Leo?" 


	3. Once in a Lifetime 3

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 3 

"Yeah," Leo said with a shrug. "I'm fine." 

"You talk to Jenny?" 

"Yeah -- she's gonna stay another week." 

"Is this good?" 

"I don't know." 

"Leo, what's going on?" 

"I honestly don't know. Things with Jenny have been, strained, strange, whatever, lately." 

"Any idea why" 

"No...yes...I don't know" sighed Leo as he tossed the pin back on the desk. 

"How about we go back to the farm, get something to eat and talk?" offered Jed. 

"Yeah, I'd like that, actually" said Leo with a small smile. 

~~~~ 

CJ woke up with a jerk and found herself in darkness. "Leo?" she mumbled, trying to clear her thoughts from the narcotic. "Toby?" 

There was an answering snore from the bedroom, and she sat up slowly before going in to go to bed. 

Very few people actually knew that she and Toby had a relationship -- Andi being one. She had actualy encouraged them to get together. 

CJ got a glass of water and attempted to undress with one hand. She managed somehow to do it without causing herself any further pain. Toby instinctively moved over as she crawled into bed. 

"You ok" he muttered in his sleep. 

"Yeah, go back to sleep" she whispered before leaning over to kiss his forehead. 

He mumbled something else -- Toby seemed to mumble a lot, she'd noticed over the years -- and rolled over to go back to sleep. 

She closed her eyes, but sleep was slow in coming. 

When she woke up the next day, it was already past time for Toby to have gone back to work. She sighed as she got up and went to the kitchen to get herself something to eat. 

"Need some help?" 

She jumped. "Leo, what the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" she asked, nearly dropping the glass she had managed to get a hold of. 

"I stopped because I had a few questions to ask you. Toby said you were still asleep and that I was welcome to stay and wait until you woke up" explained. 

"OK, whatever" muttered CJ as she gave him a strange look. 

"Coffee" asked Leo, pointing towards the coffee maker. 

"Please" 

CJ took a seat at the table while Leo got her coffee and a muffin. 

"Thanks" she said. "Now, are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" 

He shrugged a little and sighed. 

She sipped her coffee and smiled. "It's gonna be a long day if you don't start talking," she teased a little. 

His eyes narrowed at her playful tone. "This isn't funny, Claudia," he snapped. 

"Sorry," she said quietly. "I'm still a little loopy from the pills." 

"Speaking of which, don't you need to take one?" 

"Quit changing the subject. What's bothering you?" 

"Well, it's Jenny..." 

CJ nodded and stared at him to continue. 

"Things have been pretty bad lately. We're not exactly getting along well. She's decided to spend an extra week in Borneo. She just thinks I'm too wrapped up in the campaign. Of course I am. My best friend is running for President of the United States and I'm running the show! How could I not be wrapped up in it? She just doesn't understand how important this is to me." 

"I think she does. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she's just worried about you?" asked CJ softly. "Worried about the amount of pressure you are under, worried about what you might be tempted to do?" 

Leo cringed visibly. "I haven't had a drink in a long time" he reminded her in a fairly nasty tone. 

"I know that, we all know that. We just want to keep it that way" said CJ as she reached out to pat his arm. 

She appeared nonplussed by his apparent irritation -- partially because she'd been witness to it all before. "It'll be okay, Leo, eventually," she promised. 

"And you and Toby... there's just something about that that rankles, too. I mean, I know you two don't get all lovey-dovey at work and all, but still..." 

She smirked. "At least he doesn't have a Porsche." 

"Yeah, well, maybe it would be better if he did." 

She frowned. "Leo, that was just mean, and if I had any real energy, I would hit you." 

"I know" he said quietly. "Look, I should go. I have a ton of things piled up on my desk and you should get some rest. You gonna come in at all today?" 

"What happened to taking things easy for a week or two?" smirked CJ. 

"You didn't really believe that did you?" 

"Nope. I'll be in for a little while this afternoon." 

"Good. I'll see you later" 

Leo put his coffee cup in the sink, kissed the top of CJ's head and grabbed his jacket before heading out the door. 

She sighed and looked down into her half-empty cup of coffee. She knew he was right, in a roundabout way. She didn't feel completely at ease with Toby. It was slways like she was expecting him to go off on the hardwire with her, instead of the voters or the people who needed it. 

She loved Toby with all of her heart, but not necessarily in a romantic way. 

It was this realization that make her feel sick to her stomach. Not the medicine. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The morning of Election Day dawned clear and crisp, a typical November morning in New Hampshire. CJ got out of her bed and wandered down the hall pausing for a moment in front of the door to Toby's room. She heard the sounds of him getting ready for the day. 

Two months earlier they had come to the conclusion that although they loved each other dearly, they weren't in love. With only a few months left in the campaign they decided it wouldn't make any sense to have one of them move out so Toby just moved into the guest room. 

At first CJ thought things would be awkward. But, surprisingly, they weren't. And for that she was glad. 

She knocked on the door. "You decent yet?" 

"Shut up," he growled. 

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna go make some coffee..." 

"Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes." 

CJ shook her head smiling and headed for the kitchen. A long time ago she realized that Toby wasn't ready for human interaction before at least one cup of coffee. She started to coffee maker and grabbed the newspaper off the front porch. Within seconds of sitting down to glance at the front page the phone started ringing. 

She grabbed it and said, "Yeah," distractedly as she flipped through the front page. 

"You two up yet?" Leo asked. 

"Yes, Leo, we're up. It's sweet of you to check and all, but..." 

"Come down to the office as soon as you can, okay?" 

"Leo, we haven't even gotten caffinated yet." 

"Fine, pour a cupful down his throat and get in here" 

"Right. We'll be there in 45 minutes" she mumbled as she hung up the phone. 

Forty three minutes later they were walking through the door of the Bartlet for America headquarters. 

"What the hell couldn't wait?!" CJ bellowed grumpily. 

"Mandy walked out this morning," Leo said with a frown. "I need you to run complete media interference today -- she negotiated for live cameras, and all of this shit that the Governor and I never even knew about..." 

"Shit," CJ muttered as he handed her the day's list of media applications. "SHIT!" 

While CJ flipped through the stack of papers Toby tried to make a clean getaway. 

"Not so fast, Toby" she said as she reached out and snagged him by the coat sleeve. "There's enough mess here for both of us" 

"CJ, I'm a speechwriter for a man who could very well be the President-Elect by tonight, don't you think that maybe I have a few things of my own to do today?" whined Toby. 

"So get to work" she muttered as she gave him a shove in the general direction of his office. "Come to my office and give me a hand in an hour," then adding as an afterthought, "Please?" 

"Maybe" he smirked as he went down the hallway. 

CJ rounded up Carol and as many other warm bodies as she could to give her a hand. By lunch time things were under control and CJ was able to take 10 minutes to put up her few and have something to eat. 

She was just finishing her salad when Josh appeared in her office. She wearily waved him in without looking up from the folder she had just opened in her lap. 

Josh never said anything, just paced around the room until CJ was unable to take it anymore. 

"Joshua Lyman, SIT DOWN!" bellowed CJ. "You're making me dizzy" 

"Sorry" he muttered as he flopped down in a chair on the other side of CJ's desk. 

"God, if you're like this at 1 in the afternoon what are you going to be like later at the farmhouse?" teased CJ. 

"You probably don't want to know" he said with a grin. 

"You're right," she mumbled, glancing back down at the scheduled press release for the morning. "I really DON'T want to... Josh, who told Danny Concannon that he would have inside access this evening?" 

"I don't know. The Governor or Mrs. Bartlet, probably." 

"Yeah, well, you think they could bother to tell me..." she muttered, flipping through the rest of the day's press applications and things. 

Five minutes later she tossed the stack on her desk and looked up to find Josh had nodded off in his chair. 

"Finally, he stopped moving and he's quiet" she muttered to herself as she went out in the hallway to find Carol. 

Two hours later CJ was on her way to the farmhouse to check out the situation. As she pulled into the driveway she saw Danny on the porch with Leo. 

"Daniel, you're supposed to be here this evening, as in, when it is dark outside." she yelled across the driveway. 

"I was, uh, getting a head start on things" he smirked. 

"Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of England, Danny." 

"You'd make a lovely queen, CJ." 

"Bite me. Leo, can I go in?" 

"Yeah, go ahead -- we've been expecting you for at least two hours," Leo pointed out. 

"I got buried in stuff, or I would've been here sooner." CJ grabbed her purse, kissed the roof of her car and said a quiet thank you before going inside. 

"What was that about?" Danny asked, confused. "Does she always kiss her car?" 

"Well, yeah, now she does," Leo said with a smirk. 

"Why?" 

"That's a question best left untouched, Daniel. Trust me." 

"AH-kay" muttered Danny as he sat down on the porch swing to flip through his notebook. 

Leo went in the house to look for CJ. He found her in the kitchen with Jed and Abbey. Abbey looked about ready for a nap while Jed was bouncing around the room like a kid on a sugar high. 

"Jed, please sit down. You're making both of us dizzy" whined Abbey. 

"Fine" he muttered as he turned a kitchen chair around and straddled it. 

"OK, where were we" muttered CJ as she glanced at her notes, "Oh yeah, apparently someone invited Danny Concannon to spend the evening here" she said with a glance in Jed's direction. 

"That was me. Did I forget to mention that?" 

"Yes, Governor, you did neglect to mention that," CJ said, sitting down and rubbing her eyes. 

"What's so wrong with having Danny around?" Jed asked a little indignantly. 

"Nothing, I just wish you'd've told me..." 

"Told you what?" 

"That he's hanging around on election day." 

"CJ, give it a rest. It's not a big thing, okay? Here, have some coffee," Abbey encouraged, passing CJ a cup. 

CJ took the coffee and looked up to see Leo in the doorway. 

"Anymore of that left?" he asked, pointing towards CJ's coffee. 

"Sure, have a seat" said Abbey as she reached for another coffee cup. 

"Danny still outside?" 

"Yeah, he's on the phone. You know, it might be nice if you tried to get along with him today" said Leo. 

"Bite me," she muttered, reaching for the coffee pot and pouring a little more for herself. "He's an arrogant bastard." 

"He asked if you always kiss your car," Leo said casually. 

"And what did you tell him?!" 

Leo shrugged. 

"Great" muttered CJ. 

Jed and Abbey watched this exchange with amusement. Jed glanced from his best friend to CJ and just shook his head. 

"What?" snapped Leo. 

"Nothin'," said Jed . 

"Whatever. I'm going out for a walk while things are relatively calm around here. Wanna join me CJ?" 

"Sure, why not." said CJ with a sigh. 

They put their coats back on and left through the kitchen door. 

"What's with the two of them" asked Abbey as she came up behind Jed's chair and put her hands on his shoulders. 

"I don't know" 

"Did you know CJ and Toby broke it off?" she asked. 

"No, but then, I didn't know they were together in the first place..." Jed muttered in disgust. 

"So she's a free agent," Abbey supplied mildly. "Probably out on the prowl..." 

"ABBEY!" 

"What?" Abbey inquired with all due innocence. 

"That's my best friend out there, my very married best friend" 

"But not very happily from what I hear" said Abbey. 

"Maybe not, but that's not the point" 

"And what is the point?" 

Jed sighed heavily, "Frankly, I don't really know" 

"Why don't you go to your study and relax. The kids will be here in a while." 

"Great," he mumbled. "I'll see ya, then, right?" 

"Sure," she said softly. "Till then, y'know, I think I'm gonna go kick Sam and Josh around a little and flirt with Danny when he gets off the phone." 

"Dr. Bartlet, you're scary." 

"Oooh, DR. Bartlet?" she said with a smirk. "Does that mean you'd rather lock the den?" 

"Yeah, but you want to kick the spin boys and flirt with Danny." 

"Not anymore." 

They took a quick look around and headed for the den, locking the door behind them. 

An hour later Abbey was smoothing her hair back down and getting ready to leave the den. Jed was wandering around the room, shirt unbuttoned, shoes off, hair sticking up. 

"Jed, honey, you might want to pull yourself together a little before you leave the room." teased Abbey. 

"Huh?" muttered Jed as he caught sight of his reflection in the window. "Oh, yeah." 

"You ok?" she asked quietly. 

"Yeah" 

"Jed..." 

"Sorry, I was just thinking." 

"What about?" 

"Nothing important." He began tugging on a sock. "So, I wonder if CJ and Leo have come back yet or not..." 

"See, I gotcha thinking, didn't I?" 

"Shut up." 

Abbey kissed his cheek and left the room. She went out to the kitchen. It was empty. Looking out of the window over the sink she could see Danny, Josh and Sam talking out by the pond. She didn't see CJ or Leo. Jed wandered down the hall a few minutes later. 

"Any sight of them?" he asked. 

"Nope" 

Jed wandered out the front door. CJ and Leo were on the front porch swing. CJ was reading something in the folder in her lap and Leo was trying very hard to stay awake. 

"There you two are," Jed said. "Abbey and I have been looking for you..." 

"Well, we've been here for about half an hour, so..." CJ muttered, rubbing her eyes behind her glasses. She poked Leo in the ribs. "Would you quit messing up my papers by trying to rest in my lap?" she hissed. 

"'Kay," Leo muttered. 

"You need something, sir?" asked CJ. 

"No, I'm fine, just waiting for the kids to get here" 

"Kids" muttered Leo without opening his eyes. 

CJ sighed and moved the folder from her lap and let Leo get comfortable. Abbey wandered out a minute later, took one look at Leo and went back in for a quilt to throw over him. 

"Let him rest," Abbey whispered to CJ. "He's been running around like a chicken with his head cut off the last couple of days. I don't think he's slept at all." 

"Yeah," CJ agreed, gently smoothing his hair and opening her folder again. "We had a long talk while we were out walking." 

"About...?" 

"Nothing much," CJ lied smoothly. 

"Oh, ok" said Abbey, not believing that line at all. "I'll let you get back to your reading. Do you need anything?" 

"No, we're fine" said CJ with a smile. 

Abbey returned the smile and went inside. 

CJ sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It wasn't her place to tell Abbey that Leo had told her how unhappy he really was with Jenny. It wasn't her place to complain about being torn in loyalties to the family and herself. 

Leo grunted and shifted in his sleep, and she sighed again. Tucking the quilt around him she pushed off the porch floor with her foot and started the swing gently. She watched him sleep and was instantly transported back to that summer almost 25 years earlier. 

On the last night of his vacation Leo had had too much to drink and was passed out on the porch swing. CJ couldn't sleep and had gone outside for some air. She didn't expect to see him on the porch and almost turned around to go back to bed. But something made her stop. She sat down in the rocker next to him and watched him in the moonlight. She remembered wondering how he could just throw away his life for a bottle, how he could hurt his wife and child so easily. After about an hour CJ had smoothed back his hair, kissed his forehead and went back up to her room. 

Looking down at Leo now she realized that except for his drinking, little had changed over the past 25 years. He was still hurting himself and his family. He had just traded his love of liquor for the love of his job. And she knew that sooner or later things would catch up with him. 

Leo shifted in his sleep again and mumbled without waking up. CJ allowed herself to drift off too with one hand running through his sandy hair and the other resting softly on his chest. 

She awoke when Danny cleared his throat. "CJ? The Governor and Mrs. Bartlet request your presence inside." 

She mumbled something and shook Leo. "Hey, Leo, wake up," she insisted, finally thwapping him on the side of the head. 

Leo jerked upright, making the swing jump and bounce so hard that CJ felt her stomach lurch. "Jeez, Leo, relax!" she yelped. 

"Sorry" he muttered as tried to stand up without tangling himself up in the quilt. He wasn't too successful and CJ had to grab him before he ended up taking a header over the railing and into the bushes. 

"LEO" she groaned as she pulled him upright. "Stand still and give me the quilt" 

"Yes, ma'am" he muttered under his breath. 

Jed appeared in the doorway and tried his hardest not to laugh. "Just came out to see what was taking so long" he said with a grin. 

"Ask him" said CJ as she poked Leo in the chest with her finger. 

"Owww" 

"Get over it" said CJ as she stalked past him and followed Jed into the house. 

Leo just stood there, shaking his head and trying to comprehend what exactly had just happened. Giving up completely, he just walked into the house, rumbling, "COFFEE!" in a very Jed-like fashion. 

Abbey met him in the kitchen; she pushed him into a chair and handed him a steaming cup of coffee. She just stared at him while he took a sip. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Nothing" she said with an innocent smile across her face. 

"Abbey," he mumbled around the rim of the mug, "spit it out already before you choke on your smugness." 

"Who's being smug? And when did you take to sleeping in CJ's lap?" she asked with a smirk. 

"When I decided I felt like taking a nap, Abigail." He took a long gulp of coffee, and then looked up at her. "Why the hell are ya lookin' at me like that?" 

"Leo, Leo, Leo..." 

"WHAT?" 

"Admit it already." 

"Admit what?" 

"You have a Jones for CJ." 


	4. Once in a Lifetime 4

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 4 

"I do not," he protested sharply. 

"You do." 

"I DO NOT!" 

"You do not what?" CJ asked, coming into the kitchen and reaching for a coffee mug and the pot. 

Abbey opened her mouth to say something, but Leo interjected, "Nothing. Abbey's being an idiot." 

"HEY!" Abbey yelped, stomping on his foot. 

"Oww" he said hopping up and limping around the room. 

"The Governor is looking for you, he's in the living room" said CJ to Abbey. 

"Thanks" said Abbey as she left the room, but not before smacking Leo in the back of the head. 

"What the hell was that all about?" asked CJ with a smirk. 

Leo sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Nothing," he muttered. "How're the numbers?" 

"So far, so good," she replied with a smile. "But I wouldn't go pinning the tail on any donkeys other than my spin boys at this point, if ya know what I mean." 

"Yeah," he agreed mildly. 

"Speaking of the boys, have you seen them lately?" 

"I think they're in the den working on the speeches." 

"All three of them? Good Lord, let's hope Josh is just watching and not trying to help," groaned CJ as she remembered the disaster of a press release Josh had written a few months earlier. 

"Yeah, I wish he'd get his head outta his ass, too," Leo sighed, rubbing his eyes. "So, I haven't asked this, but, if we lose, what're you gonna do?" 

"Well, Leo, to be entirely honest, I don't have the faintest idea," CJ admitted with a sigh. 

"Not planning on going back to California and running the vineyard?" he asked, only half joking. 

"No, although Dad would love the help. Ben's there everyday and Peter helps out when he can but Dad's getting up there and it is getting to be too much for him. But I won't run it, it's just not me." 

"What about you?" she asked as she refilled their coffee cups. 

"Retirement in semi-contentment," he muttered. "Jenny wants to move to Hawaii." 

"It's nice out there," CJ said non-comittally. 

"Yeah, whatever." 

"You don't sound too happy." 

"I'm not." 

"Yeah, I know," she agreed mildly. "Sorry." 

"Not your fault." 

"Yeah, but does that mean I can't be sorry?" 

"No." 

"I couldn't really see you relaxing under a palm tree for the rest of your life" teased CJ. 

"Me either. I don't know...I guess worrying about it right now doesn't make much sense. Later tonight, when this is all over, I can worry about what happens next." 

"Yeah," she agreed mildly, finishing her coffee. "Okay, if I drink anymore, I'm not gonna sleep for a week." 

"Yeah," he replied, reaching for the coffeepot again to top his mug off. "Go find out what the spin boys are up to, will ya?" 

"Yeah," she said, smiling, as she left and went into the other room. 

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. 

Three hours later they were all huddled in the den keeping a close eye on the television. Josh and Jed were on caffeine overload and were pacing around the room. The others were sprawled out on the couch, the chairs, the floor. Leo sat in an overstuffed chair near the TV. CJ was sitting on the arm of the chair absentmindedly rubbing his back. 

Abbey glanced over and smirked a little, but returned her attention to the television. 

When they announced it a few hours later, the first thing that happened was Jed almost fainted. Abbey grabbed him and propped him up on the chair with his head between his knees, laughing while she did so. 

Leo pulled CJ into a giant hug, knocking her off the arm of the chair and into his lap, where she lay, laughing. 

Toby and Josh both looked on that with unamused eyes, especially when Leo bent to kiss her on the cheek. They weren't blind, and neither one of them was stupid. 

And neither knew about their shared history, so they both assumed the worst. 

Jed pulled himself together and gave his victory speech while they all looked on proudly. The party lasted well into the night. Somewhere around 3 in the morning CJ wandered out to the porch to escape the noise for a while. She found Leo on the swing wrapped up in the quilt, swinging slowly, looking up at the stars. 

"Hey," she said softly, with a smile. "You did good." 

"Huh?" he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts. "What?" 

"You did good," she repeated. "Can I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the empty seat. 

"Yeah, go ahead," he replied. "I was just thinking." 

"Pretty deep stuff, if your face is to be believed at all," she teased, sitting down and taking his hand in hers. "Old friend, you've gotta do something for me, promise?" 

"Depends on what it is," he stipulated dryly. 

"You've got to treat Jenny and Mallory better," she said quietly. "You've hurt them pretty badly over the years, and those wounds don't heal easily." 

"I know" he whispered, "I've been a crappy husband and father for years" 

"But it's not too late, you can change things" she tried to assure him, although deep down she wasn't too sure it was true. 

"I'll try," he finally conceded with a sad sigh. 

"Good," she whispered. "That's all you need to do." 

~~~~ 

"Soo..." CJ said conversationally as she and Leo finished their meeting. "Jenny told me she's asked for a divorce. Confirm or deny?" 

"I suppose, *no comment* won't work" sighed Leo wearily. 

"Nope" 

"Yes, she asked for a divorce" he said quietly as he stood up and walked to the window. He stood staring out at the rain that had just begun to fall. 

"Wanna talk about it?" 

"Not particularly, but thanks for the offer" he said without turning to look at her. 

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me" said CJ as she got up to leave. She walked past him and patted him on the shoulder before going to get ready for a briefing. 

As she headed for the door, he called over his shoulder, "CJ?" 

"Yeah?" she said quietly. 

"Thanks." 

"Leo, I saw this coming a mile away, and I'm sure the President isn't too happy about it. You need a sympathetic shoulder," she said quietly, leaving and closing the door behind her with a quiet click. 

Leo sighed heavily and headed for the connecting door to the Oval Office. Taking a deep breath he entered the room and stood in the doorway until Jed looked up from what he was reading and motioned him in. 

"You look like crap Leo, sit down before you fall over." said Jed as he tossed aside his reading glasses and took a seat on the couch opposite Leo. "You wanna talk about it?" 

Leo just shrugged his shoulders and dropped his head down into his hands. Jed got up, grabbed a box of tissues and took a seat next to Leo. He held out a few tissues and got comfortable while he waited for Leo to pull himself together enough to talk. 

"I... ah... did it to myself, I guess," Leo finally said woodenly. 

"No, Leo, it was both of you, not giving and taking enough," Jed contradicted. "You both made choices and..." 

Leo sighed and shook his head. "No, Jed. I brought it on myself." 

Jed just nodded, knowing that whatever he said it wasn't going to make much difference. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one knowing quite what to say. Finally Leo got up with a sigh, "I have things to do, sir. I'll talk to you later" he muttered as he headed for his office. 

"Leo, wait..." 

"Sir, please, not now" he pleaded. 

Jed gave up knowing that when Leo went back to calling him *sir* the personal conversation was over. 

"Yeah, whatever," Jed finally muttered, dismissing Leo with a wave of his hand. 

Leo nodded and went back to his office, where he found Mallory waiting. "Mags said to come on in," she said mildly. "Mom called and told me this morning, and she thought you might need someone to talk to." 

"What the hell is with everyone finally giving a shit about how I feel?" Leo muttered. 

"CJ said you're crabby." 

"And apparently she was right" he spit out as he flopped down onto the couch. "I'm sorry sweetie" he said as he held out his hand towards Mallory. She took it and sat down next to him. 

"Are you really ok?" 

"No, and no I don't really want to talk about it" 

"OK, but if you won't talk to me promise me you'll talk to someone later. Uncle Jed, Josh, CJ, anybody." 

"I will, I promise" 

"Dad," she said warningly. "You've got to." 

"I WILL." 

"Yeah," Mallory finally said, dropping his hand and getting up onto her feet. "And I believe you as far as I can throw you." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You heard me loud and clear -- I don't believe you, I don't trust you. And I'm amazed that CJ and Jed do." 

"Don't worry, I don't think they do either" he said calmly. 

"Look, I have things I need to do. I just wanted to stop by and see if you were ok. Obviously you're not ok and have no plans to do anything to help the situation. I'll be home later if you decided to talk" said Mallory as she walked out the door without even looking back at Leo. 

Leo grabbed the phone and punched in CJ's number. "Get me out of here" he said quietly and then hung up the phone without waiting for a response. 

His phone rang a moment later, and when he didn't pick it up, Margaret came in. "CJ's on the inter-office, Leo. She says she'll be right down." 

"I'm going home," Leo said tiredly, more tiredly than he thought he could even have felt. 

"Okay," Margaret said quietly. "I'll rearrange the rest of you rmeetings, okay?" 

"I don't care." 

"Leo, are you ok?" she asked. 

He sighed heavily. "No. I'm tired, pissed and crabby. But thanks for your concern, really, I appreciate it. I'll call you later." he said with a genuine smile. 

CJ arrived minutes later and ushered him out the door. 

Once they were out on the sidewalk, she said, "We're going to my place, okay?" 

"Yeah." 

She walked him to where she had parked her car and ushered him into the passenger seat. "You sure this is safe?" he asked worriedly. 

"I am a GOOD driver," CJ said, pushing him into the car and buckling him in herself, being sure to pull the belt tight over his hips." 

"Uh, yeah," he squeaked. 

She rounded the car and got in, fastening her seatbelt. "Want food?" 

"No, thanks..." 

She looked over her shoulder as she backed out. 

Leo kept a tense watch, too, shouting, "CJ look out for..." as a car whipped out of nowhere and plowed into the bumper of the car, sending them spinning into the two cars on either side of them -- Sam's and Josh's. 

CJ's airbag puffed up into her face and knocked her back into the back of the seat with enough force to knock her out. She came to a few minutes later to find Abbey leaning over her. 

"I'm fine" she muttered as she sat up slowly. "Leo?" she asked anxiously when she realized he wasn't in the seat next to her. 

"He's fine, he's over there" said Abbey as she pointed towards a group gathered on the lawn. 

CJ closed her eyes again briefly. "Okay, I quit -- I'm gonna get a fucking limo and a chauffer..." she mumbled, slowly opening her eyes again. 

"That would be a good idea, sweetie," Abbey said. "We popped your airbag so you could breathe -- well, Leo did -- but we're having some problems getting you out." 

CJ grunted in reply and closed her eyes. "Who hit me?" 

"Uh, Tad Whitney" said Abbey. 

"For God's sake can't that man just leave me the hell alone!" screamed CJ. 

Abbey just shook her head and tried not to laugh. 

An hour later CJ was freed, unharmed, from the car. A car and driver were waiting to take them to her house. The spent the ride in silence, both nursing matching headaches. 

When CJ opened her front door, she ushered Leo in like a protective mother. "Want some Advil?" she asked. "Me, I'm gonna have a couple Advil and a giant margarita -- if I had any urge to drink anything at the moment." She massaged the back of her head. "Advil," she mumbled, heading for the kitchen. 

Leo laughed a little bit, knowing that as long as Claudia Cregg was mumbling about Advil and margaritas, she wouldn't ask him about Jenny. 

CJ brought him a couple of Advil and a glass of iced tea. 

"Here. To be quite honest, I don't feel like talking so why don't you just relax and get some sleep. I need to make a few phone calls" she sighed. 

"Insurance company?" 

"Oh shut up" she said reached out and caressed his cheek. "You sure you're ok?" 

"Yeah" he replied as he kicked off his shoes, loosened his tied and stretched out on the couch. 

"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll go into the bedroom and make my calls so you can get some sleep." As she walked away, he had to laugh as she muttered, "Dammit, my insurance is gonna skyrocket!" 

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, it was to the sound of her rattling around in the kitchen. 

"What time is it?" 

"Almost 7, you've been asleep for a few hours. You hungry?" 

"Yeah, I think so." he said as he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

"Good, dinner will be ready in an about half an hour" 

"Thanks," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I could use some more of that Advil about now..." 

"Not till you talk to me about what happened with Jenny," she said mildly, setting a skillet down on the stovetop with a clatter. 

Leo walked to the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast counter. "Now that's just mean. And could you stop throwing the cookware around so loudly" he muttered. 

"When you start talking" she said in an overly sweet voice. 

"What the hell is your problem?" he asked, holding his head in his hands. "You crash cars right and left -- have you ever finished paying for a car before you wrecked it? -- you bitchslap people around, you... you..." 

"Watch it or I'll throw this at you," she said very calmly, a butter knife in her hand. 

Leo looked up at her, took one look at her face and decided to bite back his next series of comments. "Sorry" he muttered. 

"It's ok. Leo, I'm worried about you, we all are, please, talk to me?" she sighed as she walked behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. 

"Fine, you give me a neck rub and I'll talk" 

"Deal" 

He laughed. "You're so easy..." 

"Yeah, I am," she agreed with a smile. "But I'm far from cheap. Now start talking." 

"Yeah," he sighed. "Well, I guess it all really kicked into gear when I forgot our anniversary." 

"Yeah, but it's been brewing a lot longer than that, right?" 

"Yeah, it has." He sighed. "Things have been going downhill since the campaign started. Jenny wasn't thrilled that I took it on in the first place. She had envisioned a few years of having me all to herself." 

"I can understand that. Let's face it, she's put up with a ton of shit over the years Leo. All she wanted was a normal life for a while. Who could blame her." 

"I know. I realize now that it wasn't too much for her to ask. But I threw myself full force into getting Jed elected and things started to go downhill from there. By the time election day rolled around we were barely speaking. After we got to the White House things go better, for a while. But then..." 

"You got too wrapped up in your work, again?" 

"Yeah" 

She nodded, but he couldn't see. "You screwed up, yeah, but she could've tried to put up a little more and understand..." She hit a particularly sore muscle group and he lurched in her hands. "Okay, just relax, Leo..." she said soothingly. 

He took a couple of deep breaths and tried his best to relax. 

"So then you missed your anniversary and things snowballed from then on?" 

"Something like that" he sighed as he leaned his head back into CJ. She moved her hands up from his neck to his temples, making gentle circles as she felt him relax just a little further. 

"And you want things to blow over, but they're not gonna," she said quietly, knowing both sides of the story already. 

"Yah." 

"Jenny says you haven't been in love with her for a long time," CJ said gently. "That it was a long time in coming." 

"Maybe," he muttered, pulling away from her. "I feel better now -- maybe I ought to go home." 

"No, stay for dinner. I promised the President I would fuss over you for a while" she said as she went to the stove. 

"Great, just what I need, another mother-hen, as if Margaret wasn't enough..." 

"Leo" she said cutting him off with a look of warning. 

"Fine, I'd love to stay for dinner" 

"Good. So set the table" 

He grumbled but went into the kitchen and found the articles he needed in the drawers. He'd been over many times before -- usually when CJ had just crashed her car and was high on pain pills, but a couple of times for no reason beyond their wanting to vent. 

"Hey, can you get glasses too?" CJ asked as she brought something out of the oven. 

"What the hell is that?" 

"Enchiladas..." she said, her voice trailing off. "You don't like enchiladas?" 

"Yeah, I do. Sorry." he said as he finished setting the table and sat down. 

"So how are things back at the vineyard?" he asked hoping to steer the conversation away from Jenny. 

"Pretty good. Ben took over the day to day operations and they were able to hire some additional help. I'm trying to convince Mom and Dad to come out for a visit but I haven't had any luck yet." 

"That's good, did Ben's wife have her baby yet?" 

"Yeah, last week, another boy. They named him James. And before you ask Peter and his family are fine too. So, now that we are done with the update on the Cregg family we can resume our earlier conversation. What are you going to do now?" 

"Well, give Jenny her divorce, I guess. It's irreparable, CJ. It's over." He looked woebegone and beaten, down-trodden and angry all at once. 

"Okay," she said softly, sitting down. "Why do you say that?" 

"Cause it is. We've tried and tried to make it work. I know some of our efforts were half-hearted at best but there were times recently when we really did make an effort to try and work things out. Too much has happened, too many hurtful things have been said, by both of us, that there just isn't any hope. And the best thing for both of us is to just end it." 

"Is that what you want?" 

Leo nodded and turned away from her as he felt himself get teary. 

"Okay," she whispered, reaching for his hand. "You know I can't take sides on this." 

"Yeah." 

"I love you and Jenny both, and it's killing me to see you two like this," she said quietly. "But, if I have to choose, I choose you, Leo. Well, because, uh, you're my boss and could have my ass on a gold platter in your office in the morning." 

Leo chuckled and turned back to face CJ. She smiled as she reached out to wipe a stray tear from Leo's cheek with her thumb. 

"Hmm, you on a gold platter? THat's an interesting visual, Claudia Jean" mused Leo with a wry smile. 

CJ just groaned and shook her head. 

"Leo, not funny... not in the least," she scolded even as she smiled an amused grin. 

"Yeah, it is, Claudia," he contradicted with a crooked grin. "And your smile proves it to me." 

"Shut up," she said, turning red and laughing as she looked away. "You know me too well -- it's not fair." 

"Hey, you know me just as well. You always have. You've always understood me, even when you were just 15. God, in some ways that seems like 5 lifetimes ago and in other ways, it was just like yesterday." 

"Yeah," she agreed with a sad smile. "A lot of time has passed and look at us both -- I still can't drive without crashing, I still have an obsession about falling in water, you're still obsessed with anything but your family, and... uh... I crossed the line there, didn't I?" 

"No" he said softly, "You didn't. It's the truth." 

He pushed his food around on his plate for a few minutes without really eating much. 

"You don't like it?" 

"No, I mean, yeah I like it. I'm just not hungry. Maybe I should just go home. I'm not exactly very good company at the moment." 

"Leo, I don't want you to be alone right now," CJ said quietly. "I know you too well, remember -- you're not going to crawl back into that bottle for solace, and you're not gonna be alone for a while, okay?" She reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I trust you about as far as I can throw you, which ain't far, my brother. You can sleep in my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch." 

"I'll stay, but I'm not sleeping in your bed. I'll take the couch 'cause, well, no offense but do you and your long legs even fit on the couch?" 

CJ burst out laughing and smacked him on the back of his head. "Fine, you can have the couch" 

"Thanks," Leo mumbled, grabbing her and yanking her over to tickle her until she was on the floor laughing until she was crying. 

"UNCLE, UNCLE!" she shrieked, slapping half-heartedly at his hands. 

"Fine" he said as he offered her his hand to help her up. She eyed it warily for a few seconds before taking it. 

"I'm going to take a shower. You can clean the kitchen." 

"Clean the kitchen? I thought I was the guest, the person you nearly killed this afternoon, the person whose life is falling apart..the person...". He looked up to find that CJ had already left the room. 

Leo rolled his eyes but took his dishes into the kitchen and began to wash them, muttering the whole way. 

When CJ came out of the bathroom about forty-five minutes later, Leo was stretched out on the couch with her copy of "War and Peace", sound asleep. 

With a small smile, she covered him up with a quilt and took the book gently out of his hands. She sat on the coffee table for a minute, watching him. He looked peaceful in his sleep and she only wished that that peace would still be there when he woke up. She kissed his forehead and turned out the light before heading to her room. 

She awoke to a ringing phone about an hour later and groaned. It wasn't very often that she could go to bed early, and she was now pissed about having been woken up. 

She grabbed the phone, turned it on, and snapped, "WHAT?!" 

"Nice way to answer the phone, Claudia Jean," said Jed. 

"Oh, sir, sorry." she said as she sat upright, now wide awake. 

"Don't worry about it," chuckled Jed. "I was just calling to see if you know where Leo is, he's not answering his cell phone." 

"He's, uh, asleep on my couch" 

"CJ?" 

"He's on my couch, asleep, sir. I'm not surprised he's not answering his phone.... what do you need?" 

"I was just checking to see if he was ok. I guess he's well taken care of." said Jed as he smiled to himself. 

"He's fine, just tired" 

"OK then, I'll see you two in the morning." 

"Good night sir, see you tomorrow" 

CJ tossed the phone down and curled back up under the comforter, determined to get 6 straight hours of sleep. 

That didn't happen -- not by a long shot. She couldn't get back to sleep, so she got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of milk. She laced it with a little scotch and added some ice cubes before running it through the blender. 

It took her a moment to remember that Leo was on the couch, and he was the source of the major crash in the living room. 

She hit the stop button on the blender and ran into the living room. Leo was on the floor next to the couch. He had obviously tripped over the shoes he had kicked off earlier. He was rubbing the back of his head muttering under his breath. 

"Problem Leo?" 

"Oh, just shut up and help me up." he grumbled. 

CJ held out her hand and pulled him to his feet. 

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep." 

"So you decided to run the blender?" 

"I was making a toddy frappucino, thank you," she said with a heavy sigh. "The President called earlier, wanting to know if you were still alive." 

"What did you tell him?" 

"That I hadn't killed you..... yet." 

"Very funny." he muttered. 

"You need some ice?" she asked as she reached out to feel the back of his head. "Oh yeah, you sure do" she said as she felt him flinch as she touched to bump that was already forming. 

She took him into the kitchen and got him an ice pack 

"Thanks" he said, taking the ice. "You can still have your toddy, whatever, don't stop on account of me." 

She shrugged. "It's probably melted by now." 

"Ohhhkay..." 

"I told you it was a toddy frappucino. Milk, scotch, ice...." 

"Well, yeah, the ice is probably melted by now, yeah..." he agreed. 

"That ice is gonna melt if you don't put it on your bump, Leo..." she pointed out. When he still made no move to move it, she took it gently from him and held it against the bump on his head. "You okay?" 

"Yeah." 

"Then why didn't you do this yourself?" she asked, pulling him towards onto the couch. 

"Dunno." 

"Leo, Leo, Leo...what am I going to do with you" she mumbled as she pressed the ice gently against his head. 

"Wow, that's a loaded question" teased Leo. 

CJ blushed. "You're an old pain in the ass, you know that?" 

"And proud of it," he replied, flinching as she moved the ice slightly. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah..." 

"You gonna tell me what's really going on in that head of yours? You're not that upset about Jenny asking for a divorce, Leo. It's what you wanted all along, isn't it?" 

"Yeah, it's what I want but it's still almost 35 years of my life just...just...over with the stroke of a pen." 

"Yeah" she said softly. 

He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He took a few deeps breaths and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. CJ rubbed his back gently waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she didn't push him any further. Over the past 25 years she had learned from experience that the quickest way to get Leo to shut down was to force him to talk. 

CJ eventually removed the icepack and Leo reached up to gingerly touch the lump on the back of his head. 

"God, CJ, you really are trying to kill me today, aren't you?" he teased, a slight smile coming across his face. 

"Nah, I kinda like having you around" she said with a grin. 

"Yeah, well, I confess, I'm kinda fond of you too" 

And for a minute they just sat there, looking at each other, while something unspoken passed between them. It was something that had happened numerous times over the years. Something they both felt but did nothing about. Something hidden away and taken out only in the privacy of their own thoughts. But this time something in CJ made her throw caution to the wind and confess a long kept secret. 

"Well, as long as we're confessing, there's something you should know," she said softly and seriously. The look on her face made Leo sit up and she grabbed his hand before continuing. She could feel her cheeks blush like a school girl but she was determined, once and for all to tell Leo how she really felt. "Leo McGarry, I've had the biggest crush on you since I was 15 years old." She looked away, not sure she wanted to see his reaction. 

Leo took a deep breath and lifted up her chin to look her in the eye. "You're not the only one harboring a 25 year old crush, Claudia Jean." 

She blinked and stared at him. "Say what?" she finally choked out. 

"You heard me, CJ. I don't think I can say it again right now." 

"You don't get crushes, Leo. Leo McGarry hasn't had a crush in his life, I'm willing to bet... Me, on the other hand... yeah. You? No way." She was babbling now, completely incoherent -- she couldn't even comprehend for real what he had told her. It went in one ear and bounced around her brain briefly before shooting out her other ear. It wasn't reality. It was a figmentation of her imagination. 

Or rather, it was... until he kissed her. 

The kiss took both of them by surprise but neither one seemed in a hurry to end it. When it finally did end they were both speechless, a truly rare occasion. CJ sat up quickly as she had basically ended up on top of Leo. She ran her hands through her hair nervously as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 

"Leo,CJ" they finally spoke at once. 

"You first" said Leo. 

She laughed nervously. "Ah... that was wonderful, but.... should we be doing this, Leo?" 

"I don't know." 

"It could be seen as sexual harrassment." 

"CJ..." 

"It could be a PR disaster in the making...." 

"CJ!" 

"This isn't a good idea, Leo...." 

He rolled his eyes. She wasn't going to shut up. So he leaned forward and kissed her again, until she was completely silent. 

When he finally pulled away he put his fingers to her lips to silence any more protests that she may be preparing to voice. "Let me speak" 

She nodded. 

"CJ, we are adults, you are single, I am getting divorced. There is nothing wrong with this. Whatever this is." 

"If we worked anywhere but the White House I would agree with you. But let's face it, we could be a PR nightmare faster than you can say *Sam and his call girl friend*" 

Leo smiled. "CJ, CJ, Claudia...." 

"What?" 

"You are entirely too stuck in the mud on this, aren't you?" 

"Leo, it's reality, not...." She broke off and began chewing her thumbnail nervously. 

"It is reality, and the reality is that something is happening between us. Something that's been brewing for 25 years. Isn't it time we did something about it?" he asked with a small smile. 

"I was just a kid," she whispered. 

"You're not now, are you?" 

"No, but... I know you now. I know you too well. How will we make this work, when we both know so well and so much about each other." 

"We're the same coin, CJ, just two different sides." He cupped her face in his hands. "We can make this work." 

CJ just sank back into the couch, still trying to digest the fact that Leo had had a crush on her since she was 15. He guessed what she was thinking. 

"CJ, I never, ever would have done anything back then. You're right, you were 15. And I was 30 and married with a child. I never even considered doing anything back then, even though I spent a good portion of that week at your house drunk." 

"I know" she whispered as Leo wiped away a stray tear. 

"You're my friend, Claudia -- you always have been," he said quietly. "And I don't want ANYTHING to EVER destroy that. So, I suppose, we should take this slowly, and tread lightly." 

"I suppose," she agreed. "You really had a crush on me when I was 15?" 

"I just about had a conniption when you went out with that guy with the Porsche." 

CJ laughed at the memory of coming home dripping wet and explaining the situation to Leo in her kitchen. 

"CJ, at 15 you had an understanding, an intuition, a manner about you, a *whatever*, that was well beyond your years. I knew that the day I met you. I always knew you would go far." 

Now she was crying openly as was Leo. 

"So, we take this slowly?" 

"Well, not too slow, I'm not getting any younger ya know." smirked Leo. 

She laughed and kissed him gently on the cheek. "I don't know what we're going to do or how we're going to do it, but we have to be discreet." 

"I know." 

"I don't understand how or why, but I loved you from the moment I saw you. Only I didn't know what it was that I was feeling. Mostly confusion, I think," she joked, blushing a little under his scrutiny. 

"Well, that's understandable, you were young" said Leo with a shrug of his shoulders. 

CJ nodded and yawned loudly. She glanced at the clock on the VCR. 

"So much for the 6 straight hours of sleep I was planning on getting" she mused. 

"CJ when was the last time you got 6 straight hours of sleep?" teased Leo. 

"No idea, but how about we try and get 4 hours." 

"Four hours are good," he agreed mildly. "I'll just stay here on the couch, since it's comfortable, and..." 

"You will not," CJ protested. 

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly. 

"Leo, I almost killed you twice today, I just admitted to harboring a quarter century old crush on you. I am not letting you sleep on the couch. Let's go" she said as she gently pulled him to his feet. 

"You're sure about this?" he asked quietly. 

"Leo, I'm asking you to sleep, not make love to me," she said with a smile. "Believe me, when I want that, you'll know for sure, and there will be no doubt in your mind that it is time." 

"OK" 

She led him down the hallway towards her bedroom. Grabbing a pair of pajamas she headed into the bathroom to change. Leo slipped off his dress shirt, pants and socks before crawling into the bed. CJ came out a minute later with a glass of water and two Advil. 

"Thanks" he said as he took the pills. 

CJ turned out the light and slid under the covers. They lay side by side in silence until CJ was overcome by a case of the giggles. 

"What the hell is so funny?" Leo asked. 

"Nothing," she said, continuing to giggle. 

"Claudia..." 

"Sorry, I just..." She was gasping for breath. 

Leo rolled over her and flicked the light back on. 

"It's just that I still can't believe..." 

"Are we back to the fact that I had a crush on you when you were 15?" he asked with giggle of his own. 

"Yes" she said as she turned the light back off. 

She took a few deeps breaths and composed herself as best she could. 

She felt Leo's hand reach out for hers and hold it tight, and she knew, she KNEW, that it was true. And that it was real. And that it was long-lasting. 

"Good night, Leo," she whispered. 

"Night, CJ." 

Dawn came way too fast and the blaring of the alarm sent CJ flying to shut it off. Only she wasn't used to having to climb over someone and she managed to nearly knock Leo off the bed in the process. 

"Jeez, CJ, I've been awake for all of 5 seconds and you're trying to kill me already." 

"Oh, God, Leo, I'm sorry!" she choked out between her laughs. "This is just so.... weird for me right now." 

"Glad I can provide you with some amusement on this dreary morning." he said as he glanced out the rain. "I'm gonna go home and shower before work." 

"And how are you going to get there?" 

"Uh, good question" 

And that question was answered when a driver appeared at CJ's front door 5 minutes later with instructions to take Leo home. A second driver would be arriving to take CJ to work within the hour. 

"I'll see you later," CJ said quietly. "We'll be okay." 

"Yeah," he agreed, leaning forward to kiss her very gently and softly. "See you for Staff." 


	5. Once in a Lifetime 5

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 5 

CJ arrived at work, head held as high as she could in front of Josh and Sam. Luckily the damage to their cars was minimal and they weren't too hard on her. She walked into the Oval Office for Staff a few minutes after everyone else and the only open seat was next to Leo. She couldn't tell if that had happened on purpose or plain luck. There was little time to dwell on such matters as Leo started the meeting as soon as she had set foot in the room. 

She managed to concentrate on the meeting, and not on how expressive Leo's hands were, somehow... 

And then they all dispersed and went back to their offices. 

CJ went to prepare for her next briefing while Leo headed to the hill for a few meetings. It was the middle of the afternoon before they caught up with each other. Leo stopped by her office on his way back from his meetings. She was on the phone but waved him in. Sighly deeply he sank down onto her couch and rested his head on the back. 

"Hey, you ok?" she asked as she hung up the phone. 

"Yeah, just tired, didn't get much sleep last night.' he said with a smirk. 

She tossed her glasses aside and joined him on the couch. "How's your head?" she asked as she gently ran her fingers over the lump. 

"Fine, as long as you don't touch it." 

"Sorry. So you wanna do something tonight? Dinner?" 

"You cooking?" 

"Maybe. What's wrong with my cooking" she asked woundedly. 

"Nothing but how about we just order in, maybe rent a movie or something. That is, if we get out of here at a decent time." 

"Sounds good. Now get going, I have a 4 o'clock briefing to get ready for." 

"You're throwing me out?" he asked woundedly. 

"Yeah, but I know you have just as much work, if not more, than I do to get done before we get a chance to leave...." she said with a gentle smile. "So, beat it. Hit the road, Leo, and...." 

He laughed. "I'm going, I'm going..." 

CJ watched as he disappeared around the corner. She went back to work. 

By some stroke of luck they were actually walking out of the building at a few minutes before 8 that night. Leo's car had been in the parking lot over night so he drove them to CJ's after picking up some Chinese take-out and a movie. 

"I still can't believe that Leo, the food snob, would like inane movies like 'Aliens from Beyond'," CJ teased with a giggle as she let them into her apartment. 

"I was just kidding, CJ!" 

"Yeah, uh-huh...." She laughed and grinned down at him, where he was looking very sheepish. 

"Okay, okay, so I like bad old B movies.... I can't believe you like sappy chick flicks." 

"Well, at least we managed to settle on something," she laughed. "Popcorn?" 

"After dinner" he said as he held up the bag of food. 

They settled on the couch to watch CNN while they ate dinner. CJ wanted to just start the movie but Leo insisted on watching CNN in case anything important had happened in the 20 minutes since they had left the office. 

"But Leo, we had the radio on in the car, your cell phone has been surgically attached to you and we just checked the answering machine. What do you expect is going to happen." 

"Nothing, this is my normal routine" 

"Oh, I guess I should have realized that" said CJ with a roll of her eyes. 

CNN's headlines told them that, yes indeed, they hadn't missed a thing in the previous 20 minutes. 

"Can I put the movie in?" CJ asked. 

"Are you physically capable of putting the movie in the VCR? I would assume so..." 

"LEO!" 

"Say it right." 

"MAY I put the movie in?" 

"Of course." 

"You're a pain in the ass." 

"And you're just realizing that now?" he smirked. 

"No. Even at 15 I figured that out pretty quickly" 

Leo just looked at her and stuck out his tongue. 

"Oh real mature there Leo." 

He laughed. "Very astute of you, Claudia." 

"You're nothing more than an overgrown baby." 

"Your point?" 

"Well, for one, I'm not gonna change your diapers when you get old. Mallory can do that." 

He threw his head back and laughed like he hadn't laughed in a long time. 

CJ just sat back and watched as he laughed. When he stopped she gave him a big smile. 

"What?" he asked. 

"That was a nice sound. You laughing like that is something I haven't heard in a long time." 

He returned the smile as she stood up and put in the movie. 

CJ smiled and snuggled up to him as the movie began to play. A couple of hours later, when it was over, they were both long since asleep. 

CJ woke up and stretched, wondering why she felt so stiff, then remembered that she was on the couch with Leo, and if she was stiff, so was he. "Hey," she heard Leo say quietly. 

"Hey..." 

Leo sat up slowly and stretched his arms out in front of him. 

"Damn, I am too old to be sleeping on the couch" he grumbled as he dropped his feet from the coffee table with a thud. 

By then CJ had gotten up and was holding out a hand to help him up. 

"Come on, let's go." 

"Huh?" 

"Bed, Leo. Let's go to bed." she said wearily as she waited for him to stand. 

"CJ, are you sure about..." 

"Leo, bed. Not sex. B-E-D. Bed." 

"As in sleep?" 

"As in lots and lots of sleep -- I wish." 

"OK" he grinned as he took CJ's hand and stood up slowly. 

"Just for future reference, when we do sleep together, it is going to be at a time when both of us are awake and able to, uh, fully participate." 

"Good idea" he smirked as he sat down on the bed. 

She smiled and reached for her nightgown, which sat on the end of the bed. "I'll be back," she promised, heading for the bathroom. 

Leo got out of his work clothes and climbed under the covers, and closed his eyes. He was asleep by the time CJ climbed into bed, and she smiled as she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. 

As usual dawn came much too quickly. However, CJ did remember that Leo was asleep next to her and she managed to turn off the alarm without causing him bodily harm. 

As Leo threw on his clothes from the night before he turned to CJ. 

"So, since I've already been here two nights in a row would it be okay with you if I brought over some clothes?" he asked nervously. "I think this running home to shower and change stuff is gonna get real old, real fast." 

She laughed and blushed a little. "Yeah, I guess that's okay. But what are we going to tell people?" 

"That I sleep over and if they don't like it, fuck 'em." 

"Oh. Okay." 

Leo padded out into the living room to find his shoes with CJ close on his heels. 

"So, how do we want to do this. One big announcement." 

Leo stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face her. CJ was hard pressed to identify the look on his face. Fear? Amusement? Something entirely different? 

"A big announcement? CJ, it's been a little over 24 hours, I don't think we need a formal statement yet. Give Jed another 48 hours and he'll figure it out on his own and start the rumor mill." 

"Yes, and by that time, the press will have already tried to take me out for lunch, Leo. I know what I'm talking about -- please." 

"Yeah, okay, yeah, but a big announcement? CJ, what are you thinking? It's not like we're getting married. We're just two friends sharing an apartment at this point." 

CJ was a little surprised at that statement but recovered quickly. "Well, I had plans to be more than friends by the time this gets out, but hey, if that's the way you want to look at it." 

"I meant to the press, to everyone else, CJ, we're just two friends sharing an apartment. That doesn't mean we can't be more within our own walls," he said quietly, very much aware that he had offended her. 

"Leo, you and I both know that the press isn't going to buy the *just friends* story any more than our actual friends will. We have to tell them something." 

"What? I'm only speaking for myself at the moment but honestly, I have no idea where this is leading. I know how I feel about you but let's face it, things will never be easy." he sighed as he took her hand. 

"They never are." 

"Precisely." 

"Leo... I don't know where this is heading, either, but I want to make a go of it, if at all possible, and you're putting stumbling blocks up in the way, and I'm doing the same thing, and god, but it's annoying." 

"Yeah. Sometimes I just wish I could lead a normal life. Have some reasonable hours, get more than 4 hours sleep a night, eat a home cooked meal more than once a month." 

"Leo, you wouldn't last a month leading a normal life." 

"I would too!" 

"Nope." 

"Prove it." 

"You're a food snob, and I don't cook." 

"So we go out." 

"See, right there, Leo. Normal people don't go out every night, unless they live in New York City!" 

"So what? NOw you're telling me that I don't even know what normal is anymore?" 

"Exactly" she said a little louder than she had planned. 

Leo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while gathering his thoughts. 

"Look we are getting no where. Let's just keep this between ourselves for another day. We can talk about it later. I'll take you out to dinner. Deal?" 

"Fine" 

A little over an hour later they arrived at work in separate cars. A little over two hours later Jed called Leo into the Oval Office. 

"You know why CJ's acting like a royal pain in the ass today?" Jed asked. 

"No, sir, why would I?" 

"Well, now, that was a little cold." 

"It was meant to be. I'm not her father, I'm not her husband or boyfriend..." 

"Leo, Leo, Leo -- what the hell is the matter with you?" 

"NOTHING!" 

"Leo, please," said Jed lowering his voice. "What is going on? The two of you were staring at each other with daggers in your eyes all day. Two days ago you were sleeping on her couch. What happened?" 

"Nothing happened, sir." 

"Something happened. It had to have." 

"NOTHING HAPPENED!" 

Jed turned to see Charlie standing in the doorway with a file. NOt taking his eyes off of Leo he pointed to the desk and Charlie dropped it there without a word. 

"Leo sit, please" said Jed as gestured towards the couch. 

"Sir, I'm begging here..." 

"Leo, three things are going to happen in the next minute or so. Number one is you are going to sit, number two is you are going to stop calling me sir and number three is you are going to tell me what the hell is going on with you and CJ...With you and CJ" Jed repeated quietly as Leo smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders. "Spill it, my friend." 

"There's really nothing to spill, sir." 

"Jed." 

"Jed, there's nothing to spill." 

"Prove it." 

"I'm staying in her apartment." 

"Yeah? And?" 

"And.. I'm staying in her apartment. Her couch is comfortable." 

"So you're sleeping on CJ's couch, excuse me, comfortable couch, instead of staying at your place for no apparent reason. What a crock of..." 

"Sir, Jed, please. We really don't need to have Mrs. Landingham running in her telling us to watch our language." 

Jed nodded. "Whatever." he muttered under his breath. 

"Jed, that's all there is to it," Leo said with a sigh. 

"Oh really? And what set you two off at each other this morning? Who forgot to make the coffee?" 

"Shut up." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You heard me. My life is none of your business, so just stay out of it \-- SIR." 

Jed opened his mouth to say something but instead motioned to Leo that he was free to go. "Well, that didn't work, so on to plan B" he muttered to himself. "Oh, Charlie, can you find CJ for me?" he bellowed. 

CJ came into the Oval Office with a disgusted look on her face. "This couldn't wait, sir?" she asked. 

"Nope." 

"I was in the middle of a meeting." 

"Tough." 

She sighed and smiled. "Okay, what do you need, sir?" 

"Why are you and Leo being assholes?" 

"Excuse me?" 

"Oh for God's sake, Claudia Jean, you heard me the first time." said Jed trying to mantain a presidential air about him when he really just wanted to take CJ and Leo by the necks and knock their heads together. He sat on the couch and motioned for her to sit next to him. "I just finished a 10 minute conversation with Leo that led exactly nowhere. So now it's up to you to make some sense of what the hell is going on around here today." 

"So, what did Leo tell you?" she asked curiously. 

"That he's staying at your apartment and that you're couch is comfortable." 

"And that's true." 

"OK, but that doesn't explain why the two of you are acting like immature brats today." 

"We're not acting like immature brats!" CJ protested. "We both just spent the night on the couch, after watching a movie, we fell asleep. And we both woke up cranky and sore, and..." 

"CJ, I want you to tell me something." 

"Maybe, sir..." 

"If you two are going to do this, don't you think you should try a little harder?" 

CJ let out a ragged breath. "Yeah. It's just that...yesterday morning we were the best of friends who had been harboring secret crushes on each other for 25 years. Then we admitted our feelings and have been picking at each other ever since. I'm beginning to think that maybe be are better off as friends." 

"I don't think you are, but that's not for me to decide. So go find Leo and talk, now, before I lock the two of you in the Mural Room." teased Jed with a smile. 

CJ returned the smile as Jed patted her arm. She headed for Leo's office. Knocking lightly on the door she heard him mutter, "Yeah, what?" She turned back towards Jed who simply mouthed the word, "Go." 

Taking a deep breath, she entered his office. "Hi," she said. "I heard through the grapevine that we're having problems today?" 

"Probably," Leo muttered, looking up and just now registering that she'd walked in through the Oval Office door. "What's..." 

"He sent me," she said, gesturing over her shoulder. "He wants us to straighten up." 

"Oh great, the leader of the free world is meddling in my personal life again." muttered Leo as he leaned back and put his feet on his desk. 

"Well, I don't think he was speaking as the leader of the free world when he asked why we were acting like assholes." sighed CJ as she walked over to Leo's desk and sat down on the corner. 

"He said we were acting like assholes?" 

"Yeah." 

"Damn...." 

"So, he's pretty upset with us at the moment." 

Leo groaned and rubbed his eyes. "We can't have a normal relationship." 

"That's probably true, but why can't we even try?" she asked softly as she reached over to pat his leg. 

"Maybe we can." 

"How" 

"For starters we can stop acting like assholes." said Leo with a smirk as he dropped his feet down and scooted his chair closer to the desk. He put his elbows on the desk, head in his hands. 

She chuckled. "Not acting like assholes would be good." Her smile faded. "But we'll have to tell them something when they ask why you're staying in my apartment." 

"No, we won't." 

"Yes, we will..." 

"Fine, tell them we are involved...anything so we stop fighting. I can't take much more of this." he said wearily. 

CJ reached over to brush back his hair, taking care not to touch the bump on his head. Leo gave a contented sigh as he folded up his arms and dropped his head down. 

"You wanna tell the staff first, or let them find out at my next briefing." 

"I vote for the briefing but I will leave that up to you." 

"I don't want to do this if you aren't ready for it," she whispered. "This is you as much as it's me, Leo." 

"Well, we should've thought about that before, I guess..." 

"Or at least tried to spin it so it wouldn't look bad," CJ added. "It's okay, Leo -- if you want to leave it vague, I completely understand, but, eventually..." 

"I know, eventually we will need to deal with it. But the whole idea of 

dealing with it before we've done anything is just so...I don't know. For God's sake we haven't even had a date yet." he groaned. 

'Last night we did. We had dinner and a movie," CJ pointed out sagely, with a smirk. "But you didn't even try to get to first base, which makes me think you're a wuss." 

"Hey, I'm not a wuss. I was being a gentleman. And let's not forget I was recovering from my many near death experiences of the previous day." 

"A gentleman?" she snorted. "A gentleman would realize I haven't been touched by a man in six months and would do something to remedy that!" She rolled her eyes. "Near death experiences, my ass." 

That rendered Leo speechless and bright red for just a moment. "And just how would I know that little bit of information. It's not exactly common knowledge around the office, memos aren't sent out about these things. If I had known I would have..." 

"You would have what?" asked CJ with her eyebrows raised. 

"Done something about the situation." he said as calmly as he could. 

She snorted. "Leo... what's done is done." 

"Yeah, but what hasn't been done can be changed..." 

"Whatever." 

"First base," he mumbled. 

"Second," she stipulated. "Second or a homerun, thank you." 

He laughed. "You're a pushy broad, y'know..." 

"I know, always have been. But then again, you've known that for a long 

time, right?" 

"Yep. So care to start over?" 

"Definately," she replied as she leaned over to kiss his cheek and whisper in his ear, "One more thing...batter up" she said with a wicked grin. 

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Go back to work." 

"Yes, sir..." She smirked. "It's a curved ball, and he...." 

"Claudia..." 

"Yeah?" 

"Please go back to work." 

"I'm going." she said as she slid off the desk and headed for the door. "Hey, Leo?" 

"What?" he sighed. 

"Swing for the fences, hit one out of the park." 

"GO BACK TO WORK!" he rumbled, his voice catching on laughter as she kicked her heel up coquettishly and winked at him. 

"May I take that to mean you've patched up your differences?" Jed yelled from the Oval Office. 

"Either that or it's opening day at Fenway Park." muttered Leo as Jed came in sat on the couch. "Pardon me for asking, but don't you have something you should be doing, like running the country?" asked Leo with a smirk. 

"Actually I'm running a little ahead of schedule, so I have a few minutes to chat." 

Jed kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the couch, giving Leo the sinking feeling that he planned on staying for a while. 

"Great, just great." said Leo under his breath as he sat down in a chair next to the couch. 

"So, what's next. For you and CJ, I mean?" 

"I think maybe a date, ya know, like normal people." 

"You and CJ, normal?" said Jed trying to surpress a laugh. 

"Jed, you're not helping." 

"OK, so what can I do to help." 

"Well, no offense, but you could just, uh, stay out of it." grinned Leo. 

"OK, OK, I can take a hint" he muttered. "So you have the notes on the thing for tonight. 

"Yeah, somewhere." replied Leo as he got up and walked to the desk, happy that the conversation had turned back to the matter of running the country. 

"You know, you really ought to take her somewhere nice for dinner," Jed commented as he skimmed the papers. "Get dressed up, nice food, a kiss goodnight, maybe more,s ince you're living together now..." 

Leo tossed his glasses down on the desk as he looked up at Jed and somehow managed to suppress a scream. "I would love to take her to dinner tonight but somehow I got roped into going to this dinner for...for...who the hell is this thing for tonight?" 

"The Ambassador from Latvia is getting married next week, and we've been invited to celebrate with her and her fiance.... CJ's coming, you know." 

"Of course I know -- she has to go." 

"Precisely... so take her out on the floor and dance -- just don't upstage the happy Latvian couple." 

"I'll keep that in mind. Can we please get back to work?" asked Leo on the verge of pleading. 

"Sure, what's next?" 

"Not sure, but I do know that it will involve a room full of people so you will leave me the hell alone." teased Leo. 

"Nice way to talk to the President of the United States, Leo. Should we go next door, look at the seal on the floor?" 

"Nothing would give me more pleasure, SIR." smirked Leo. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jed said with a sigh. "Okay, I'm going. You're impossible." 

"No more so than you. Sir." 

"Shut up." 

"Maybe." 

Jed left the room with a laugh, leaving Leo alone for the first time in what seemed like days. As usually happened his solitude lasted all of 5 minutes before Margaret was coming in with a stack of phone messages and 5 things that needed to be signed. 

"Leo, you ok?" asked Margaret. "You seem a little out of sorts today, even for you." 

"I'm fine. Can you order some flowers for me?" 

"I could, but it'd be more personal if you did it yourself. I'll get the number for Carmine's." 

"Fine. Whatever." 

She left the office and just wondered what on earth was wrong with him. She retrieved the number for Carmine's, and came back. "Here you go," she whispered, handing it to him as he was on the phone. 

"Thanks," Leo said. "CJ, I don't care if Danny wants to dance naked on the Truman Balcony, he's not getting the story." 

Margaret stood there for a minute watching him, trying to place the look on his face. It was a combination of exhaustion and anger but something around the eyes told a different story. A good story. She wisely decided not to ask him about it, instead she turned to leave quietly. 

"CJ... Danny can't have the story. No one can have the story -- it's a non-story!" 

"Leo, it's a story now that Danny's got it in his grubby paws," CJ sighed. "Okay, look, I think you're being very unprofessional about this." 

"Excuse me?" 

"I think you're jealous." 

"Excuse me, jealous of Danny? Give me a break." 

They went back and forth for a few more minutes, accomplishing nothing except to lose any ground they had made up earlier. 

Jed appeared in the doorway just as Leo was slamming down the phone. He waited silently until Leo noticed him. Leo looked up to see him standing there, shaking his head. 

"Don't say it." said Leo softly. 

"I won't. Why don't you go in my study? Relax for a few minutes, close you eyes. I'll tell Margaret I asked you to do something for me." 

"OK" 

Leo put his glasses in his pocket and walked slowly into the Oval Office. Jed put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he passed by. 

Leo sighed and shook his head as he went into the study. 

CJ stormed into Margaret's part of the office. "Where is he?" she demanded. 

"The president asked him to do something," Margaret replied calmly. 

"Well, when he gets out, tell him I wanna wring his neck," CJ snapped, turning on her heel and walking out the way she came. 

Something in CJ's tone told Margaret that whatever their problems were they had little to do with work. 

CJ stormed back down the hall, yelling at everyone in her way. She left a wake of people scattering to avoid being the next to incur her wrath. Unfortunately Toby wasn't quick enough to get out of the way. 

"What the hell do you want?" she growled when he followed her into her office. 

"I want you to stop being a bitch." 

"And I want world peace, but am I getting it? NO. So shut the hell up." 

"I will, when you tell me what is going on around here. You and Leo had been going at it like cats and dogs today." he yelled as he slammed the door behind him. "CJ, talk to me." he pleaded, his voice softening. 

"There's nothing to talk about." 

"Claudia, please... don't say there's nothing to talk about, when we both know that's not true at all." 

"Fine, Toby, it's not true. I just don't want to talk about it, okay?!" 

"No, it's not ok. What is going on with you and Leo? It's pretty obvious that whatever it is, it has nothing to do with work. CJ, are you and Leo...uh...involved?" 

"Now there's the $64,000 question." she bellowed. 

"So, what's the answer?" 

"I swear to God Toby, I don't know the answer." she said honestly as she sat down on the couch. 

"How can you not know the answer?" 

"Because there is no answer, Toby." 

"Oh?" 

"Toby..." 

"OK, how about we start from the beginning." said Toby as he loosened his tie and got comfortable on the couch. 

"That could be a really long story Toby." said CJ. 

"OK, whatever." muttered Toby getting a little confused. 

"There are a few things you don't know about Leo and I." 

"OH, God, you've been having an affair ever since the two of you met." declared Toby. 

"NO, that's not it. Especially since when I met Leo I was, I was..." 

"You were what?" 

"15" 

Toby blinked. "Okay, start at the beginning." 

"That is the beginning." 

"CJ!" 

"Okay, okay... we were strapped for money to keep the vinyard going, so mom and daddy started taking in overnight guests. Leo, Jenny, the President and Abbey, Elizabeth and Mallory, all came as guests. And I was the glorified baby-sitter." 

"CJ, this is a little much to wrap my brain around." 

She laughed. "Yeah, I know -- isn't it, though?" 

"So, you've known Leo and the rest of them for what, 25 years?" 

"Yep." 

"And you never told anyone?" 

"No, at the beginning, when I was hired I didn't want anyone to know. Then after a while it didn't seem important." 

"OK, while this is an interesting story, what does it have to do with the fact that you and Leo are at each others throats today? 

"Uh, well, that's complicated in and of itself." 

"CJ..." 

She blushed. "We've decided to try to pursue a relationship outside of work and the political arena, and it's... too complicated to go into, Toby." 

"I'm gonna ask you something, answer it, don't answer it, it is up to you." 

CJ nodded. 

"Have you two been involved off and on over the years?" 

"Would you believe me if I said no?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well, we've never been romantically involved. Good friends, that's all. Unless you count the crush we've each had on each other for those 25 years. But's that a whole other..." She stopped short to wipe away the tears she had been trying to control for the past hour or so. 

"Can of worms." he finished for her as he handed her his handkerchief. "So what do you want now?" 

"I want Leo, plain and simple." 

Toby tried not to flinch, but it was hard. "Oh. Okay," he finally said, noncommitally. "But that gives me a really bad mental picture I could've done without, you know..." 

"TOBY!" she shouted, turning beet red. "I don't even know why I bother with you." 

"Sorry. So let me get this straight, you and Leo have known each other for 25 years, you've both had crushes on each other for most of that time, you professed your feelings for each other and now you're fighting. Correct?" 

CJ nodded meekly. 

"I assume you are aware that this makes absolutely no sense." 

"Yeah." 

"I swear, you two are... you're both stupid as posts. Dumb as posts. Whatever the hell." 

"Yeah," Cj agreed, sniffling a little and reaching for the kleenex box. 

"So now what are you going to do?" 

"Go find Leo, I suppose." 

"Good. But can I suggest you go into the ladie's room and pull yourself together a little first?" 

"I will, thanks for your help." 

"You're welcome but I'm not exactly sure what I did to help." 

"Me neither, but you did." she said as she kissed his cheek. 

Toby walked her down the hall to the ladies room before heading off to find Sam. 

Fifteen minutes later CJ walked up to Margaret's desk asking where she could find Leo. 

"The President asked him to do something." 

"Any idea what?" 

"Nope" answered Margaret, not even looking up from her computer. 

"OK" said CJ as she turned to go back down the hall. She went to Charlie's desk in hopes that he might have some idea where to find Leo. He didn't know but Jed heard her outside the Oval Office and called her in." 

"Hello, sir. Do you know where Leo is?" 

"Yeah, he's in there." he said, pointing to the door to his private study. "Go ahead in, take your time." 

"Thank you, sir." 

"And CJ?" 

"Yes, sir?" 

"Do a job." 

She laughed. "Yes, sir." 


	6. Once in a Lifetime 6

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 6 

CJ knocked softly and didn't get an answer so she opened the door slowly and stuck her head in. Leo was sitting on the couch, feet on the coffee table, sound asleep. She closed the door and sat next to him. The room was fairly dark, lit by only a single desk lamp. CJ could see the faint tear tracks on Leo's cheeks. 

"God, what have I done?" she whispered to herself. 

She shook herself and gently wiped away the remnants of tears, trying not to wake him, but was unsuccessful in that endeavor. When she pulled away, his eyes were open. 

"Claudia." 

"Leo." 

"How did you find me?" 

"I tortured the Commander in Chief with a steak salad." 

"CJ!" 

"Leo, I'm kidding. He told me you were in here." 

"Traitor" he muttered as he rubbed his eyes. 

"Leo, can we start over again?" 

"Start over, from when, 25 years ago, the campaign, 3 days ago, when?" 

"How about from the point we confessed the whole crush thing. I'm thinking that's when things started to go downhill." 

"Yeah," he agreed mildly. "It kind of was. As long as those feelings remained hidden, we had no problems, but as soon as they came to the surface and were exposed..." 

"It was like erosion," CJ supplied with a smile. 

"Okay, that made no sense, not to mention was a little freakish." 

"We can't all be Jed Bartlet." 

"That's for sure..." 

"So, can we try again, Leo?" she asked quietly. "If we can, I'd like to try. Honestly, I would." 

"Me too." 

Just as they leaned forward to kiss Jed pounded on the door. 

"We've got a country to run Leo." he yelled, "Stop making out in my study." 

"Oh God." groaned CJ. "The whole office just heard that, didn't they?" 

"Probably. Let's go." he said as he held out his hand. 

She tried to paste on a smile, but failed miserably as she began to giggle nervously. "The whole office heard that -- I can't believe he..." 

"I can," Leo contradicted. 

"Shut up." 

"Eat me." 

"Love you, too, Leo." Only when she said it, there was no sarcasm in her voice. He leaned her against the door and kissed her very gently. 

"We'll make this work," he said softly. 

"I know." she said as she pushed herself away from the door and smoothed down her hair. Just as Leo was about to leave the room she pulled him back in to wipe the lipstick from his cheek. 

Jed watched with great amusement as the came into the Oval Office. Much to their relief he was alone in the office. That relief was short lived as they realized the rest of the Senior Staff was out by Charlie's desk waiting to come in for a meeting. To their credit they tried to keep straight faces when they entered the Oval. Josh, as usual, was the first to crack. 

CJ stared at Josh for a long time, her stare turning into a glare as he continued to laugh. Finally, she couldn't stand it any longer and pulled the cushion out from behind her and whapped him in the face with it. 

Which sent everyone else into a fit of laughter. 

It was a full ten minutes more until the meeting actually got under way. 

"OK, I hope everyone got that out of their systems" groaned Leo as he tried steer the conversation towards the matters at hand. 

"Yes, let's move on so Leo and CJ can get out of here at a decent hour tonight." said Jed with a grin. 

"Sir, as usual, you're not helping." Leo pointed out with a sigh. 

Cj was flushed bright red, and she was on the verge of tears at this point. Which was horrible -- she rarely, if never, actually cried. "Excuse me," she choked out, getting up and leaving for the outer office. 

Everyone stood at once to follow her. "Sit down, all of you." ordered Jed. "Leo, unfortunately, I need you right now. Toby go with CJ, make sure she's alright." 

Toby found her in the hall. She had pulled herself together and was just about to go back in. 

"What happened? You draw the short straw? Get sent out to make sure I'm not having a breakdown." she spit out. 

"No, The President needed Leo and so he asked me to come out and check on you." he replied as he patted her arm. 

"Oh thanks, I feel so much better," she snapped. "Why is it so inconceivable to everyone that Leo and I could have a relationship? A good, healthy, adult, relationship?!" 

"Because they don't know the history, CJ. If you told them..." 

"If I told them, they would laugh in my face, Toby." She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. 

"Well, yeah, I'm sure Josh and Sam would get a kick out of it. But, so what? Since when do you really care about what they say." he teased as he wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. 

"I'll think about it." she said as she took a deep breath. "Let's go back." 

"Yeah," he agreed. 

They went back into the Oval Office, and CJ took her seat next to Leo again. He very gently, surripitously, rubbed her shoulder, his motion natural and unnoticed by everyone else in the room, sans CJ -- and Jed. 

Jed smiled at them and continued the meeting. When it ended CJ had to go back to her office to prepare for what hopefully would be the last briefing of the day. As she was about to leave a delivery man stopped at Carol's desk holding a beautiful arrangement of cut flowers. Carol brought them in and put them on the desk. 

"I guess I don't have to ask who they are from?" teased Carol. 

"Probably not." said CJ as she plucked the card out. 

She smiled as she read it, and headed for Leo's office. He was on the phone, but she came in, sat down, and waited for him to hang up. Once he had, she said, "You're really a very sweet man, Leo." 

"Oh, thank you -- don't you have work to be doing?" 

She smiled. "Give me a minute, okay?" She came over, sat on his lap, and kissed him very gently. "I'll be back for dinner -- we can hang a sock on the doorknob, if need be." 

Leo laughed before kissing her again. Margaret's knock on the door caused them to pull apart abruptly, but she managed to stick her head in before CJ had actually climbed out of his lap. 

"MARGARET!!" bellowed Leo. 

"Sorry." she muttered as she tossed his phone messages on the desk. 

"I gotta run. I'll see you later." said CJ as she smoothed down his hair. 

"Bye" 

She kissed him quickly before running out of his office. He was left at his desk, his fingers pressed to his lips. 

CJ didn't get to have a dinner. And neither did Leo. Five high school students went on a rampage in their school, killing eighteen people and wounding a score of others. 

CJ barely made it out of the Press Room for 6 straight hours and Leo was basically locked in the Oval Office. She stumbled into the Oval around 4 in the morning to talk to Jed for a few minutes. She was surprised that Leo wasn't in there with him. 

"Where's Leo?" she asked, falling wearily into a chair. 

"I sent him to the residence to sleep for a little while. He was dead on his feet." 

"I know that feeling," CJ sighed. "Anything new?" 

"Nope. You ought to go try to get some sleep. Go up to the Residence or to your office and get some rest, okay?" 

"Which room is Leo in?" 

"CJ!" 

"Fine, I'll go back to my office, then." 

"CJ" came Jed's voice as she reached the door. "He's in the Lincoln Bedroom." 

"Thanks" she said with a weary smile. 

She walked up the stairs, nodding to the agents as she headed down the hallway. At the door to the Lincoln bedroom she paused slightly before opening it. She crept in quietly. Leo was sound asleep on the bed, fully clothed, shoes and all. 

She chuckled softly and untied his shoes, and slipped them off. He jerked upright. "Who's that?" he called out into the semi-darkness. 

"It's just me," CJ said quietly. "Go back to sleep." 

"Oh." he muttered as he settled back down on the bed. CJ pulled his tie loose and covered him up. She kissed his cheek and sat on the edge of the bed. He muttered something and rolled over to the middle of the bed, leaving her room to curl up next to him. 

"Sleep," she whispered, kissing the back of his neck and closing her eyes. 

When she woke up, the sun was creeping into the room, and Leo was gone. She wiped her eyes and squinted through dry contacts at her watch. It was a little after 6. After quickly doing what she could with her hair, she grabbed her shoes and hurried back to the West Wing. When she got to her office there was a muffin and a cup of coffee waiting. She grabbed them and headed over to Leo's office. 

"Hey," she greeted quietly. 

"Hey," he grumbled from behind the desk. "YOu get your breakfast?" 

"Yeah -- you get some more sleep?" 

"Yeah..." 

"Leo," she said eyeing him warily. "How much sleep did you get?" 

"An hour." he admitted with a yawn. 

"That's not enough." 

"CJ..." 

"Leo, please, I just want to help." 

He sighed. "If you want to help, please get me a cup of coffee." 

"Fine, did you eat?" 

"No" 

"You have to eat. What do you want?" 

"CJ don't fuss over me, please." 

"Leo, I'm not fussing. What do you want for breakfast?" she asked in a tone that left no room for arguing. 

"Eggs and bacon on a hard roll." 

"Great, I'll be back in a minute." 

"Claudia?" he called. 

"Yeah?" 

"Thanks." 

"No problem." She smiled and went to the Mess to get him his food. 

They ate sitting on the couch in his office while reading over the lastest information on the school shooting. When they were done CJ left to prepare for her briefing while Leo headed to the Oval Office. 

When they managed to meet up later, it was 4:30, and it was just too late to do anything but catch a quick snack and a little chat about nothing. 

After a soft kiss, they went their seperate ways. 

By 8 that evening things had quieted down considerably and CJ was at her desk reading the wires. Leo wandered in, looking like he could use both a nap and a shower. He flopped on the couch, rubbing his eyes wearily. 

"Got any Advil?" he asked as he kicked off his shoes. 

CJ tossed him the bottle and pointed to a bottle of water on the coffee table. 

Leo took the pills and sighed as he curled up on the couch. 

"You wanna talk?" asked CJ without looking up at him. 

A few minutes passed without getting an answer. She was about to ask again when she heard faint snoring from the couch. 

She smiled and got up to tuck him in under the quilt her mother had made. She brushed a soft kiss across his temple, and whispered, "Love you." 

She worked for another hour or so at her desk and then packed up to leave. Leo was still out cold on the couch so she knelt down next to him and try and wake him. 

"Leo. Come on, wake up. Let's go home." 

He just mumbled something and rolled back over. 

"Leo, I'm leaving you here if you don't get up." 

"I'm up." he muttered grumpily. 

"Good," she said crisply. She leaned down to help him to his feet. "Let's go home... I'll make some eggs and toast, and light the fireplace, maybe..." 

"Are you trying to seduce me?" he teased. 

"Maybe," she shot back with a grin. "Wanna find out?" 

"I'm too tired." 

"Same here." 

An hour later Leo was sound asleep in CJ's bed and CJ, for some unknown reason, was wide awake. She went to the kitchen and cleaned up the mess from the eggs and toast that Leo had managed to stay awake long enough to eat. 

She made some tea and wandered into the living room. She pulled an old cigar box from the shelf and opened it up. It only took her a minute to find what she was looking for, a faded 25 year old photo. It had been taken the week the McGarry's and the Bartlets had been guests at the vineyard. CJ was on the tire swing, braids flowing behind her. Leo had Mallory in his arms and he was helping her push the swing. CJ remembered like it was yesterday the exact moment that picture had been taken. She also remembered vividly riding her bike into town to pick up the roll of film at the drugstore. She picked them up, rode to the park and sat on the swings flipping through the pictures. 

She didn't hear Leo come into the room. He leaned over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. She jumped when he touched her. 

"God Leo, you scared the crap outta me." 

"Sorry, whatcha got there?" 

She handed him the photo with a small smile. 

He took it and smiled. "And to wonder, all these years, I've been wondering what happened to that missing picture," he laughed. "Y'know, we didn't even know what was on that roll of film till you picked it up... and there was one picture missing." 

She shrugged. "So I'm a criminal. I stole a picture." She smiled. "It made me happy to have a reminder." 

"Yeah," he agreed. "Remember you gave Mal your school picture so she'd remember you?" 

"Yeah..." 

"She framed it and gave it to me not to long after that -- I still have it somewhere... or maybe Jenny does. I don't know." He sighed. "So many things have changed, and I don't know what I have left to offer." 

She reached up to take his hand. "Whatever you can spare is enough for me." 

"Is it really?" he asked softly. 

"It has to be, it's all we have." 

He kissed her cheek and walked around to sit next to her on the couch. 

"25 years and a couple of pictures," she said quietly. "That's what we've got. But what we could have is... extraordinarily mind-bending." 

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. "If we can stand each other." 

"Of course we can stand each other," she said. "We have to. It's the only way it's going to work." 

"So now what? We've been asking ourselves that question all day but we haven't come close to answering it. You wanna sneak around for a few months, go public, move in together, elope? 

"What?" said CJ, not sure she heard that last part. 

"You heard me." 

"Yeah, I did. Let's not forget one minor detail...you're still married." she said, pointing out the obvious. 

"For now, but not for long." 

"Yeah, but you're still married, and if you come out to the press about us getting married... Leo, it's going to look like *I'm* the reason you and Jenny are separated." 

He sighed. "You are not the reason we're divorcing, and I don't ever want you to think that you are." 

"Marriage, Leo, isn't in my plans right now." She squeezed his hand. "But maybe sometime..." 

He just stared at her not sure what to say. Her declaration had caught him off guard. Not that he expected her to jump at the chance to marry him, he just thought getting married was something she wanted to do. Whether it was to him or to someone else. 

"Oh," he said quietly as he pulled his hand away from hers. 

She closed her eyes, feeling the loss of his touch acutely, knowing full-well what it meant. "I'm sorry, Leo," she whispered. "I just can't... I can't make that kind of commitment right now. I don't know what I want -- how can I be responsible for someone else's happiness, too?" she asked quietly as he stood up to pace the room. "It's not you, Leo, it's me." 

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, it is you." 

That comment stung, even though she knew it was true. She watched him pace for so long that it made her dizzy. She tried to talk to him but was met with a cold shoulder each time. Finally around midnight she stood up and walked into the bedroom, leaving Leo alone to wear a path in the carpet. 

She changed into her nightgown and lay down on the bed, curling up into as small of a ball as she could. That's when she let the tears begin to fall. 

She heard vaguely, the front door opening, then closing again, and she wondered briefly if that was the last time she would see Leo outside of work. 

It wasn't. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The following fall Leo's divorce from Jenny became final. Two weeks later he gathered up his courage and knocked on CJ's door on a cool Saturday morning. In one hand he held a small bouquet of fall flowers and in the other a bag of cinnamon donuts. 

She came to the door in plaid boxer shorts and a t-shirt, a kimono-esque robe over the whole ensemble. "Leo!" she said in surprise. "Hey, come on in... I was just getting some coffee on. My niece is visiting, and she's a grouch without coffee..." 

"I brought donuts," he said, holding up the bag. "And some flowers for your table." 

"Oh, thank you..." she said, a little surprised. "You want to come in? I can make you some breakfast..." 

"Sure, thanks." 

He followed CJ into the kitchen and dropped the donuts and flowers on the table. She handed him a vase and then grabbed some eggs and bread from the fridge. 

"You said your niece is visiting, which one?" 

"Marie... Ben's oldest. She's sixteen now, and her parents decided that Auntie Claudia would be the best person for her to see DC with." She snorted. "Marie, get done in there!" she yelled in the direction of the bathroom. 

"Look, if this is a bad time, we can do breakfast another day." said Leo. 

"No, it's fine. We haven't even decided what we are doing today. Sit. You want eggs and toast?" 

"Yeah," he said as he suddenly realized the last time he had been at CJ's she had made him eggs and toast just before declaring she wasn't looking to get married. 

CJ looked at him as she recalled the same thing. 

"Uh.. scrambled or fried?" she asked, a little flustered. 

"Scrambled." 

"Cheese and salsa?" 

"Yes, please." 

"Okay," CJ said with a smile. 

Marie bounded into the room. "Hey, Auntie C -- who's this dish?" she asked with a grin as she pulled up a chair. 

"Marie Katherine Cregg, what happened to your manners?" yelled CJ as she felt herself turn red. "This is Leo McGarry, my boss, the White House Chief of Staff, maybe you've heard of him?" 

Leo stood up and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you." 

"Hi" said Marie quietly. 

"So, did you two have anything interesting planned today?" Leo asked with a smile. 

Marie shook her head. "Nope..." 

CJ dished up the eggs and set them out on the table. "I was thinking about taking her to the Smithsonian and getting up close and personal with the Star Spangled Banner..." 

"We can't," Marie said petulantly. 

"Yes, we can," CJ sighed. "I've got ins -- we can see them take it down to clean it again." 

"Really that's ok." said Marie as she picked up her fork. "How about hanging out in Georgetown?" 

"And doing what, looking for guys?" asked CJ with her eyebrows raised. 

"Hey, sounds good to me." smirked Marie. 

"No way, you're 16. Your parents sent you her to see the city, the historical side of the city. The Smithsonian and then the Capitol." 

Leo laughed and nearly choked on his eggs. CJ glared at him, and Marie giggled, nearly choking on HER eggs. 

"Leo, it's not funny." 

"Actually..." Leo began. 

"Leo, stop while you're ahead," CJ growled, and Marie stopped laughing, knowing that her aunt meant business. 

"Yes, ma'am." muttered Leo, much to Marie's amusement. 

They finished breakfast and Marie convinced CJ to let her loose in the neighborhood for a little while so CJ could get ready to go out for the day. 

She left with strict instructions to be back in an hour. 

"Thanks for the flowers," CJ said, cleaning up the breakfast dishes. "I'm going to get a shower and get ready to go -- if you want to come, you're welcome to, but..." 

"No, that's ok, you and Marie have fun." he said as he finished his coffee and reached for his jacket. "I'll see you Monday." 

"Leo," she called as he was almost to the front door. "You wanna have lunch tomorrow?" 

"Sure. I'd like that." 

She smiled. "I'll order in some Chinese or pizza or something," she said. "Just come here about... one or so." 

"Why so late?" 

"Marie is devout and goes to Mass every Sunday." She rolled her eyes. "Kill me now, but sheesh..." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for coming over." 

"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow. 

The next afternoon Leo rang her doorbell at 3 minutes after 1. CJ answered the door a little more prepared for company this time. 

"Hey, come on in." 

"Hi, what no flannel boxers today?" teased Leo as he handed her his coat. 

"No. I went to Mass with Marie and didn't think boxers were very appropriate." said CJ. 

"So where is Marie?" asked Leo, looking around. 

"Zoe called last night and they decided to spend some time together. They've kept in touch since the campaign and Marie was eager to see her. So it's just you and me. You want pizza or Chinese?" asked CJ as she grabbed the phone book out of the drawer next to the stove. 

He shook his head and laughed. "Whatever, I'm not picky today." 

She stared at him. "Leo McGarry, the great food snob, is not picky about what he's going to eat today?" she asked. 

"I am not a food snob," he protested. 

"Okay, okay," she said, making a gesture of defeat. "I think pizza sounds good, actually." 

"Then we'll have pizza." 

Things were silent after she ordered, until she broke the quiet. "So... what's going on?" 

"I need your advice." 

She laughed. "Leo McGarry, coming to me for advice? What is this world coming to?" 

"CJ, I'm serious." 

His tone told her that yes, indeed, he was serious. "What do you need?" she asked. 

He flushed pink with embarrassment. "I've fallen head over heels in love, and I don't know what to do to get her attention." 

CJ blinked, and inhaled raggedly. "Uh... flowers?" 

"Didn't work the way I'd intended." 

"Candy?" 

"Haven't tried it yet, but I don't think she likes a lot of sweets." 

"Dinner and a movie?" 

"CJ, I want her to notice me, not have to woo her immediately!" 

"Leo," she sighed, "dinner and a movie is hardly wooing." 

"CJ, you're not helping the situation." 

"Fine, so you think dinner is too big of a commitment. Maybe..." 

"Wait, that's not what I said." cried Leo. He stood up and paced the kitchen, getting more frustrated by the minute. 

"Well, then, what the hell did you mean?" she practically shouted. 

"We're both very busy and the proposition of dinner, let alone a movie, is just... too much." 

"Leo, if you wanna go boink some anonymous woman, just do it already and leave me out of it," she growled, throwing the yellow pages across the room in a fit of anger. She stomped into the living room, leaving Leo shaking his head all alone in the kitchen. 

"This was not what I had in mind." he muttered to himself. 

"You say something Leo?" she called, annoyed beyond belief but not sure why. 

"No...wait...yeah...I said this was not what I had in mind." he yelled as he stopped in the archway between the kitchen and the living room. 

"Well, what did you have in mind?" she glared. 

"I don't know," he sighed as he flopped down on the couch. 

"So when you came here yesterday with flowers and...."CJ's voice trailed off as she remembered how hectic things had been the previous morning. With Marie being a pain, she hadn't made a big deal out of the flowers. "Leo," she started softly, "Does this mystery woman have a name?" 

"Yeah," he replied shyly as she reached out to tip up his chin and look him in the eye. 

"Leo..." she said softly. "What is the mystery woman's name?" 

His face turned bright red. "Claudia," he admitted. 

"Not CJ?" 

"No, not CJ. Claudia." 

CJ's face fell, not sure what to think. 

"You remember when we first met? You were Claudia. Well, at least you were until Mallory met you. I fell in love with you, with Claudia, 25 years ago." 

A tear trickled down her cheek and she tried to smile. "I kind of always measured up all guys next to you," she admitted softly. "It was unconscious, but..." 

"But you still did it?" 

"Yeah." She kissed his thumb as it brushed away the tear, lingering over her lips for just a moment. 

He cupped her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her. In an instant 25 years melted away and she was 15 again, falling in love for the very first time. Only now, the man of her dreams was right next to her, not just a face in a photograph. 

The door burst open and Marie yelled, "Hey, I'm back!" 

CJ and Leo lept apart almost guiltily as she came into the room, shopping bags in hand. "Hey," she said with a smile. "You guys having fun?" 

CJ blushed and refused to answer. 

"Well, I'm going to try on my new clothes. Zoe and I are going out tonight with Charlie and a friend of his. I got this really cool outfit. Do you want to see it? Aunt CJ, are you even paying attention?" asked Marie as she started to pull some things out of the GAP bag at her feet. 

"Huh?" muttered CJ as Leo tried his best to keep a straight face. "Oh..yeah, sure I'll look at the outfit." 

Marie stopped and looked at her. "Aunt Claudia, are you okay? You look like you're running a fever or something." 

"I'm fine," CJ assured her. "Go ahead and show me your clothes, and then Leo and I will go throw them into the wash at the laundromat, okay?" 

"Sure," Marie said with a shrug. 

She walked down the hall to the guestroom as Leo fell back on the couch and groaned. 

"Claudia, I profess my love for you and the first place you want to take me is the laundromat?" he laughed. 

"Yeah, and if you behave I'll even take you out to lunch." 

"Yeah, but..." 

"Leo, can you imagine what's gonna happen if Marie catches us making out like she almost did? My brother'll flip off his rocker." 

"OK, so when's she going home?" 

"Tomorrow morning. I have to drop her off after my first briefing. Look at it this way, we've waiting 25 years for something to happen, what's another 24 hours?" 

"Torture?" Leo grinned. 


	7. Once in a Lifetime 7

**Once in a Lifetime**

**by: Ginny and Becky**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Disclaimer:** The usual, not mine etc.  
**Summary:** CJ, Leo and a 25 year crush.  
**Feedback:** Feedback is appreciated.  


* * *

Part 7 

"You are an impossible old man." she teased. "Get your butt off my couch and let's get going. I'm starving." 

"So'm I, but not for food." 

She slapped him on the arm and giggled. "Tomorrow, Leo. After work. Okay?" 

"25 years, CJ." 

"24 hours, Leo." 

"Fine. Let's go." 

CJ got the clothes from Marie who was busy chatting online with what seemed like half the population of Napa. 

"Thanks Aunt CJ. Oh, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." she said with a smirk. 

"Not a problem. I'll be back in a few hours." 

Marie raised an eyebrow. "A few HOURS?" 

"Yes. It take about two to do the laundry, and Leo and I are going for lunch. You know the cell number if there's a problem or if you accidently run the cat through the dishwasher again." 

"Shut up," Marie said, turning bright red. 

"Be good." said CJ as she shut the door behind her. Leo was waiting impatiently by the front door. 

They walked the two blocks to the laundromat and started the wash. After a big debate about where to go for lunch they decided on a small coffee shop across the street. The sat down in a booth in the back, away from the other customers. 

CJ stirred her cappucino with a long-handled spoon and avoided making direct eye contact with Leo for a long time. Then she looked right up at him and said, "So... where do we go from here?" 

"Oh God, anywhere but this conversation," teased Leo. "Isn't this where things went wrong last time." 

"I'd like to think we've matured over the past 6 months." said CJ dryly. 

"Me too." added Leo as the waitress brought their food. 

She picked up her fork and stabbed some salad. "You know, maybe we weren't ready a few months ago. We may have thought we were ready to make this work, but we weren't." She looked at him and said quietly, "But I know we are now. This isn't to say it's not gonna be a bumpy ride, because, knowing each other the way we do, it's going to be terrible. But... I know I'm ready now. I've missed you terribly." 

He reached across the table to grab her hand. "I'm ready too." 

She smiled and squeezed his hand. 

By the time they got back to CJ's place they had decided on dinner for the following night, come hell or high water. They also decided on a short, carefully worded statement to be leaked to the press sometime in the next few days. 

He kissed her goodbye outside her front door, and she whispered, "If you want to ask me to marry you, this time, I won't be stupid enough to say no." 

With that, she opened her door and went inside. 

He stood there, speechless for a full 5 minutes before turning to leave. CJ watched him through the peep hole in the door and was just about to open it when he shook his head, smiled and turned to go back down the stairs. 

At 6:00 the next night CJ was wandering the halls while Leo finished up a meeting with Jed. She was allowing herself to dream about the night ahead when Josh ran past her on the way into Sam's office yelling, "Turn on the tv, turn on the tv." 

"Oh God, what now?" muttered CJ as she ran her fingers through her hair. 

The big event turned out to be an interview with some big football star CJ had never even heard of. 

"Thank you." she whispered, her hands folded, eyes turned upward. She wandered towards Leo's office. Margaret waved her in. 

"Hey," she said, smiling as she walked up to his desk. "How was your day?" 

"Perfectly crappy, thanks -- and yours?" 

"I just escaped the Tweedles and some football player's interview. We still on for dinner?" 

"Yeah, just let me file this..." 

"Margaret can do that. Let's go," CJ insisted, tugging on his hand until he was close enough for her to kiss hungrily. 

"Ahem." 

They leapt apart and CJ's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Mallory!" she gasped. 

"Dad...CJ. It's about damn time." she grinned. 

Leo and CJ both let out the breaths they hadn't realized they had been holding. Mallory embraced both of them. 

"I came by to see if you were busy tonight. I can see that you are, so I will go. Call me tomorrow." she said as she backed out of the room with a giggle. 

"Leo, let's get out of here before someone else decides to stop by." she said as she cocked her head towards the Oval Office. 

"Good idea." he whispered as he grabbed her hand and they snuck out of the building unseen. 

"Where should we go for dinner?" CJ asked, just happy to be holding his hand. 

"Somewhere special, but casual," Leo replied. "Good food." 

"Okay," she said with a smile. "I assume you know of such a place?" 

"Yeah, I think I can find a place." he said as he turned to key to start his car. Ten minutes later he pulled up to his own place. He led CJ in and steered her towards the kitchen. The table was set and there was food on the stove. 

"But how?" she asked curiously. 

"I had a little help from Abbey" he admitted shyly. 

"Oh..." she breathed with a smile. "This is wonderful, Leo." 

"And I have a present for you," Leo said with a smile, bringing out a bottle of wine. 

"Wine? You?" 

"No, not me -- this was Abbey's doing. She called your father and had him overnight his prized bottle." 

She blinked back tears. "The one that he made the day I was born? The one he promised he wouldn't give to anyone but..." She inhaled sharply. "What did she tell him?" 

"She told him that she needed it for a friend, who was going to ask you to be his wife," Leo said, pouring her a goblet of white wine. 

CJ tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks but as soon as she did more began to flow. Leo handed her his handkerchief. She wiped her face and took the wine glass he offered her. He poured himself some ginger ale and took a seat next to her at the table. 

"YOu didn't have to do this, you know," she whispered, sipping the wine and trying to stop crying. "You could've just said, 'Love me', and I'd've been a goner." 

He glanced at her, pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket, and opened it. "Love me?" he whispered, letting her see the huge pink pearl ring. 

"Always." 

Leo picked up her shaking left hand and slipped the ring on. He kissed her hand and leaned over to take her into his arms. 

"So Leo, will whatever is cooking keep for a while?" she asked with a grin. 

"Oh yeah." he muttered as he stood up and pulled her to her feet. He took her by the hand and led her down the hall towards his bedroom. 

"It's been a while," CJ said quietly. "I mean, since, I was... well... with anyone." 

"Same here," Leo whispered, squeezing her hand and sitting on the edge of the bed. "But we can do this slowly if you want." 

CJ nodded silently as she toed off her shoes and pulled the clip out of her hair. Leo pulled off his suit jacket and kicked off his shoes too. They looked shyly at one another while they both took a deep breath at the same time. 

"God, we are pathetic, aren't we?" laughed CJ. 

"Nah, not pathetic. Just out of practice." 

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "But practice makes perfect." He leaned forward to kiss her ever so gently. "I love you," he whispered. 

"Love you, too." she replied as he hands went up to unknot his tie. She tossed it across the room and started in on the buttons of his dess shirt. 

He looked alittle taken aback. "What happened to slowly?" he asked. 

She shrugged and kissed him. 

"OK, but just remember, I'm an old man." he teased. 

"Leo," she muttered. 

"Huh?" 

"Shut up." she ordered as she pushed him back onto the bed. 

A while later, she snuggled up next to him, laying her head on his chest and letting him hold her. "I think we should tell Jenny," she said quietly. 

"What?" he asked as he abruptly stopped running his fingers up and down her spine. 

"We should tell Jenny, before we leak anything to the press." 

"I suppose you're right. I'll call her tomorrow. Now could we please not talk about my ex-wife anymore?" 

"No problem." she whispered as she snuggled back up against him. 

"We should talk about the wedding," she said softly. 

"Can't that wait a couple of nights, maybe?" he teased. 

"Yeah, I guess..." She smiled and kissed his chest before closing her eyes. "Love you." 

They drifted off to sleep together. Leo woke up a few hours later. He threw on his robe and went to the kitchen to get something to eat. By that time the food from dinner was pretty unappetizing so he settled for a bowl of cereal. 

The phone rang, and he grabbed it before it could wake CJ up. "Yeah?" 

"Did you ask her?" Abbey asked. 

"Yes" he laughed. 

"Good, then I will let you go. Don't want to interrupt." She hung up before Leo could tell her that CJ was asleep. Leo just laughed as he turned the phone off and set it on the table. 

"Hey," CJ said, coming into the room tiredly. "Need food. Must have food," she said with a chuckle as she sat down at the table with him, wearing one of his old chambray shirts she'd found in the dresser. 

He laughed. "Cheerios okay?" 

"If it's food, I'll eat it," she replied. 

He got her a bowl of cereal and put the tea kettle on. 

"Did the phone ring?" 

"Yeah, Abbey called. She wanted to know if I had asked you yet. I told her I had and she basically said 'good' and hung up muttering something about interrupting us." he chuckled. 

CJ blushed and dug into her cereal. "YOu told her you were going to..." 

"I also called your father and asked if I had his permission to ask for your hand in marriage. He just about had a coronary." 

"I can imagine," she said with a smile. 

"He put your mother on the phone. I think she started to cry." 

"I'll call them in the morning. By tomorrow night it will be all over Napa." 

"The news will be traveling through the grapevine, I assume." he smirked. 

"Oh God," groaned CJ as she tossed a Cheerio at his head. 

He smiled and dodged the Cheerio. "Seriously, your father was a little wary because of the age difference and a couple of other things, but he asked if you were happy with me, and when I said yes, he relented." He smiled. "There are a lot of people who care about you, and, as long as I don't have to fend off Josh and Sam as rivals for your affection, we're fine, okay?" he teased. 

She gave him a Look, and said, "There's only one man for me." 

"Glad to hear it." 

They took their tea into the living room and settled down on the couch. Leo flicked through the channels for a while, settling as usual on CNN. They watched in silence for a while until that silence was broken by Leo's snoring. CJ just laughed as she pulled him down so his head was in her lap. She pried the remote out of his hand and set out to find something to watch. 

She fell asleep to some dumb anime on Cartoon Network, and awoke to the gentle rocking feeling of being carried. She opened her eyes and found herself in Leo's arms as he walked her down the hall to the bedroom. "That's nice," she mumbled, burying her face in his neck and going back to sleep. 

As usual the sound of the alarm came much too soon. They got ready for work in relative silence. They were each slightly nervous about what the day ahead would hold for them. CJ did the clasp on her watch and paused to admire the ring on her finger. A smile came across her face as Leo wrapped his arms around her from behind. 

"It looks beautiful, just like you." 

"Thank you," she whispered. "You ready?" 

"I'm so ready," he replied, kissing her neck and turning her around in his arms for a deep, hungry, loving kiss that left them both breathless. 

"Then let's go," she said with a smile. 

They arrived together and went their separate ways to their offices once they were inside the building. They met again in the Oval for staff a short time later. CJ was the last to enter the meeting and her arrival was met with a round of applause. 

"So much for breaking the news gently?" she teased as Leo kissed her cheek. 

"Blame him," he said pointing towards Jed. 

"You couldn't have waited to tell him?" she asked, sitting down primly, her ankles and arms crossed. 

"Abbey told me," Jed replied. "And all I can say is that it's about time! 25 years it took you two to realize that..." 

"Whoa, wait a second," Josh said. "25 years?" 

"Yes, Joshua, Leo and I have known each other for 25 years." 

"Wow," muttered Josh. "That would have made you...uh..." 

"Josh, I believe the word you are looking for is--young." said Jed helpfully. 

"Yeah. Anyway, congratulations." said Josh as he kissed her cheek and shook Leo's hand. 

"Moving on," Jed said with a wicked grin. "When can I expect another godchild, Leo?" 

CJ looked at her fiance, panic-stricken. Leo shook his head. "Sir, we haven't decided to have children," Leo said, his tone telling Jed to drop it. 

"Well, we'll have a rose garden wedding.." 

"Sir, can I see you in my office for a minute?" said Leo, starting to panic slightly. 

"No need to do that," he said smiling at CJ. "The Rose Garden is yours, if you want." 

"Thank you sir." 

"So, what's next?" 

When the meeting ended, CJ followed Leo back to his office and hugged him. "Sorry," she whispered. 

"Don't be. It's just fast." 

"Well, we've taken our sweet time for so long, why shouldn't it be a little fast?" she teased with a smile. 

"Point taken. Point taken..." 

~~~~ 

Leo forgot to breathe when he saw Claudia, his Claudia, walking down the aisle. 

They had declined Jed's offer of the Rose Garden and decided instead to get married where they first met, at the vineyard. 

As CJ's father left her at his side Leo remembered to breath. 

She was wearing a white suit with a pale lavender scarf, and carried a bouquet of violets and baby's breath. She was radiant, and he couldn't keep his mind off the fact that she was going to be his. 

They went through the ceremony, and as he leaned forward, he whispered, "I love you, Claudia," before kissing her. 

THE END 


End file.
